Dear Editor, Reporter Greg Daly quoted me in his September 23 article (‘Irish Bishops urged to adopt divorce-Communion policy’) about giving Holy Communion to divorced and remarried Catholics. His incomplete reference gives the impression that I approve of this practice. I emphatically do not. It is wrong for someone who is living in a state…
Nazi history and behaviour is clear to readers
Dear Editor, Chris Jezewski (Letters IC 22/09/2016) says that in order to avoid “confusing the perpetrators with the victims” of the Nazi concentration camps, your paper should not say the camps were in Poland, instead saying they were in “German-occupied” Poland. I don’t think this is necessary, and would go so far as to say…
The Reformation and its consequences revisited
All Things Made New: Writings on the Reformation by Diarmuid MacCulloch (Allen and Lane, £25.00)
Principle of only male priests? Read of the Last Supper
Dear Editor, Bro. Malachy Buckley is quite right to mention Mary, the Mother of God and the most important woman who ever lived, and Mary Magdalen (IC 22/09/2016). It is all the more significant, therefore, that Jesus did not invite any women to the Last Supper, but just ‘the twelve’ – including the traitor, Judas…
An unfortunate comparison
Dear Editor, I refer to Mary Kenny’s article in The Irish Catholic, ‘Mrs May’s boost for faith education’ (IC 15/09/2016). Whilst pleased to be learning of the details to changes in religious schools in Britain, I felt uncomfortable with the comparison made between the child of an ophthalmic surgeon sitting next to the child of…
Hitting the right notes
Rachel Beard talks to Sr Marie Dunne about how her music has strengthened her faith
Faith before fame for superstar Wahlberg
A small Catholic church in England had a celebrity surprise last week when Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg arrived for Mass, fresh from saving the world in his latest blockbuster. Currently filming the fifth instalment of the Transformers series in England, Wahlberg left the set to attend Sunday Mass at St Aidan’s Church in Seahouses. Depth of faith…
The Catholic Church and 1916 Exhibition
Irish Capuchin archivist Dr Brian Kirby and Dublin diocesan archivist Noelle Dowling point out historical documents to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin at the September 24 launch of ‘Ministry, Advocacy and Compassion – The Catholic Church and 1916’, an exhibition at St Kevin’s Chapel in Dublin’s pro-cathedral.
Ploughing away
Cistercian College students Fiacra Murphy and Rian Boylan pictured with the papal nuncio Archbishop Charles Browne at the National Ploughing Championships.
A brave and pure heart
Dominic O’Reilly reflects on living chastely in today’s world

Courtney McGrail