Dear Editor, In answer to Fr Ignatius Candon’s letter ‘Communion should be available to all’ (IC 15/01/2015), it has been brought to my attention that in certain priestless parishes in Germany and Switzerland, when a priest has turned up to celebrate Mass, he has been told, ‘No thank you, Father, we have our communion service’.…
Courtney McGrail
Lack of solemnity in church
Dear Editor, I share with Helena Swords the feeling of offense at seeing our Catholic churches being increasingly used as concert halls with tickets being bought and sold at the door (Letters 01/01/2015). “My house will be called a house of prayer,” Jesus declared (Mt 21:13) and “Stop turning my Father’s house into a market,”…
Life’s Little Things
Like many others across the country, I was horrified at the sentence received by Patrick O’Brien for the years of abuse and torment of his daughter Fiona to which he pleaded guilty. This week the Court of Appeal agreed with most right-minded citizens when it ruled that the sentence – 12 years in prison with…
The Great Hunger as genocide
Strokestown and the Great Irish Famine by Ciarán Reilly (Four Courts Press, €17.50)
Boko Haram support sighted in anti-Catholic demonstrations
Some of the demonstrators at protests that turned into violent attacks on Catholic institutions in Niger were carrying signs supporting Boko Haram, the terrorist Islamist group based mainly in northeast Nigeria, local sources say. Niger’s bishops have suspended all Church-run activities, including schools and health centres, in the aftermath of the attacks by demonstrators protesting…
Pro-life is the new normal, says Boston’s Cardinal O’Malley at March for Life
Young people “are the most pro-life segment of the American people” according to Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley. Citing a Gallup poll that “declared pro-life is the new normal”, the cardinal said: “Congratulations, young people – you’re normal”. The cardinal was speaking to a crowd of 11,000 at the vigil Mass for the United States’ annual…
Newspaper cannot use the name ‘Allah’ for God
Malaysia’s Federal Court has ruled the Catholic Church cannot use the Arabic “Allah” as a substitute for “God” in the Malay edition of its newsweekly Herald. The ruling brings to an end an eight-year legal dispute which began when Murphy Pakiam, then Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, filed a lawsuit in response to then Home Minister…
Preserve Jewish heritage – bishops
Poles should do more to maintain Poland’s synagogues and Jewish cemeteries, according to the Polish bishops’ Commission for Dialogue with Judaism. Pointing to how 3.5 million Jews lived in Poland prior to the Holocaust, the bishops said: “We often don’t realise that, in our localities and neighbourhoods, Jews lived, worked and created as our elder…
Divine Mercy Conference on forgiveness
The 24th annual Divine Mercy Conference next month will focus on the theme of “Forgive us our Trespasses”. The weekend conference takes place over February 21-22 in the main hall of the RDS in Dublin. The speakers include Sr Briege McKenna OSC, Fr Michael Ross SDB, Fr Kevin Scallon CM, Philip Ryan and Fr Joe…
Primary school accused of discrimination
A primary school in the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly has discriminated against a teacher, according to the Equality Tribunal, and has been directed to pay €54,000 compensation. The teacher had been working as deputy principal at the school for eight years when she applied for the job of principal in 2011, but the job…