Speaking from Within: Biblical Approaches for Effective Preaching by Kieran J O’Mahony OSA (Veritas, €12.99)
Courtney McGrail
Is that a bone I see before me?
A bulldog reacts as Fr Dan Viertel, pastor of Prince of Peace Parish in Bellevue, Wisconsin, sprinkles holy water during a blessing of pets on October 1 in the church parking lot. The blessing was held in observance of the October 4 feast of St Francis of Assisi, patron of animals. Photo: CNS
Share in the meal, receive the Host
Dear Editor, Eucharist is a liturgy whereby we renew the Covenant that Jesus made between all members of the human race and our Heavenly Father, making us God’s adopted children. Like any covenant that is ‘cut’ between two parties e.g. marriage, there are the terms, and a communal celebration whereby both groups celebrate the new…
‘Justifiable’ reforms are promoted
Dear Editor, Bro. Malachy Buckley’s queries on celibacy and women’s ordination and his fear of empty churches failing drastic change (Letters, 22/09/2016) have been well-aired in organisations over the past 25 or more years, firstly locally, e.g. by BASIC here in Ireland, CWO in UK and in many other countries, culminating in a present world-wide…
World News in Brief
Anger greets release of Christian-killers in Turkey Christians in Turkey have been left outraged after five men convicted of the torture and murder of three Christians walked free from court. After a legal battle of nine years, it appeared that justice had been served for Ugur Yuksel and Necati Aydin, Muslim converts to Christianity, and German national Tilmann Geske, when a…
A family’s faith blossoms into something beautiful
Dear Editor, The old Irish blessing said to new mothers, “may you be a mother of a bishop”, has always been met with a tongue and cheek response, but the lovely image of Bishop Fintan and his parents (IC 29/09/2016) showed that wishful thinking can become a reality! It also showed how a family’s faith…
Religious educators gather for Veritas Conference
The annual Veritas conference for religious educators took place in St Patrick’s College Maynooth on October 1. Gathering educators and other stakeholders in religious teaching from across Ireland, the conference offered talks, exhibitors and workshops for attendees, all under the theme ‘Connect, Communicate, Celebrate’. According to Pamela Mcloughlin of Veritas, as in previous years, the…
Fr Jacques Hamel to be fast-tracked to sainthood
Fr Jacques Hamel, the elderly French priest murdered in his church in July by Islamic fundamentalists, is to be fast-tracked to sainthood, it has been confirmed. Last weekend, as the church of Saint-Etienne-du- Rouvray was reopened during a Mass to purify the site of the murder of the 85-year-old cleric, Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen…
Around the Globe for Mission Month
Children from St Audoen’s National School in Dublin help to launch the Society of Missionary Children’s nationwide drive to encourage schools to become involved in the global circle of mission activities – praying, sharing and caring. Last year, through the mission globes, Irish children raised over €42,000 which went towards helping children in Lesotho, Sierra…
Escaping the web – or learning to live with it
“This place diminishes us all,” wrote Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson of Twitter just over a week back. Announcing after a row with a colleague and following yet another interminable barrage of abuse from people who had found his politics insufficiently ‘pure’ for their purposes that he would be quitting the social media platform, he said:…