An award-winning singing priest will raise the roof in a busy Dublin church next week. Fr Liam Lawton, in association with Friends of the Elderly, will sing in concert at St Francis Xavier’s Church, Gardiner Street, Dublin 1, on Tuesday, December 16 at 8pm. Tickets are now on sale in the parish office at €10,…
Courtney McGrail
Cork teens fundraise for elderly
Almost 1,800 students from 20 secondary schools in Cork will begin a fast to fundraise for the care of the elderly with the launch of the annual SHARE Christmas campaign next weekend. SHARE (Students Harness Aid for the Relief of the Elderly) will launch its 45th fundraising campaign at the SHARE Crib, Daunt’s Square (near…
Religious education in schools worked
Dear Editor, Politicians that suggest schools are not appropriate places for teaching religious education are not worthy of their positions. To maintain more time be spent on science, maths and languages, just to respond to economic demand, at the expense of their spiritual needs, is a very naïve mode of thought. Between the age of…
Ireland is no longer a Catholic country
Dear Editor, Archbishop Michael Neary has been the subject of some unwarranted criticism regarding his homily to the Association of Papal Orders in Ireland (IC 13/11/2014). He spoke not of the death rattle of Catholicism or of Christianity in Ireland, but the death rattle of Christendom in Ireland. The end of that “shared set of…
Ireland is experiencing a spiritual famine
Dear Editor, I think it is the unspoken pain of Archbishop Michael Neary’s recent homily to the association of Papal Knights that prompted me to write this letter (IC 13/11/2014). I would like to draw his attention to the heavenly message given to the Irish people at Knock, Co. Mayo in 1879 during a time…
Bishops have failed to teach the Catholic Faith
Dear Editor, Archbishop Michael Neary’s sermon (IC 13/11/2014) that we are seeing the death rattle of the Church in Ireland is incorrect. The Church is the Body of Christ and so will never die. His sermon is one of despair, and despair comes from Satan. Our bishops as successors of the apostles are our teachers…
Request for information on anti-communism
Dear Editor, I am an Irish Research Council-funded PhD student in NUI Galway, in my second year. My PhD topic is ‘Irish Catholic Anti-Communism in the era of John Charles McQuaid, 1940-1971’. I have already contacted the various diocesan archives and a number of archives held by Catholic Action organisations and religious orders regarding archival…
It’s time for a national Church synod
Dear Editor, Congratulations to Bishop Brendan Leahy and all those in the Diocese of Limerick for taking the initiative to hold a diocesan synod (‘Limerick synod delegates gear up for the main event’ IC 04/12/2014). I hope the delegates can arrive at some conclusions in their attempt to lay out a path to enable the…
Vatican rules out foul play in discovery of lost funds
The Vatican has ruled out foul play in the discovery of the hundreds of millions of euros missing from the Holy See’s balance sheet. Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said there was “nothing illegal, illicit or poorly administered” about the missing funds. The clarification came after the discovery was made by Australian Cardinal George Pell,…
Faith groups ‘key’ to fighting Ebola, says UN
More cooperation is needed between the international community and faith leaders in stemming the ongoing Ebola epidemic, said a joint communique issued by the United Nations and the World Council of Churches. “It is important to share information at all levels, but much more important to intensify our direct efforts, especially at community levels,” said…