Daniel Berrigan, the American priest and poet who died in April this year, once wrote a wonderful little book entitled Ten Commandments for the Long Haul. It was intended as spiritual sustenance, sustaining food, for those who walk the lonely, long road of faith and often find themselves discouraged and running out of gas. Berrigan…
Courtney McGrail
Immigrants enrich our culture – bishop
Staff Reporter Ireland’s newest bishop has welcomed immigrants into Ireland in his first Christmas address. Linking how many Irish are immigrants in other countries with recent immigration to Ireland, Killaloe’s Bishop Fintan Monahan noted that at Christmas “our emigrants are very much on our minds”. Dr Monahan welcomed those who have returned to Ireland for…
Pro Cathedral launches annual unwanted gifts collection drive
Staff Reporter The annual collection of unwanted gifts at Dublin’s St Mary’s Pro Cathedral got underway on St Stephen’s Day and runs until January 6. An initiative of Crosscare, the archdiocese’s social care agency, the collection invites anyone who is willing to ‘re-gift’ a Christmas present to drop parcels at St Mary’s crib. The gifts…
Bumper receipts for charity fast before the feast
Wexford’s annual St Iberius Four Day fast has raised over €46,000 for charity, local priest Fr Aodhán Marken has said. The fast, which since the late 1990s has been an ecumenical event held outside St Iberius’ Church, saw Fr Marken joining Church of Ireland Rev. Arthur Minion for four days during which the two clerics…
Coming out of the crossfire
Casey Schmauder learns how Troubles survivor Richard Moore has coped with blindness and started a charity to help impoverished children
Don’t lose hope in God’s goodness
Fr Martin Henry The opening chapter of St Luke’s Gospel mentions the Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elisabeth, and the birth of Jesus is recorded in the following chapter. Both events are commemorated in the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. Why, one may wonder, are they referred to as ‘mysteries’ rather than, say, facts…
BBC acknowledges falsely accusing wartime Church of ‘silence’
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has acknowledged that it incorrectly accused the Catholic Church of failing to speak out or act against the persecution of Jews in Europe during World War II. During a BBC news broadcast in July, covering Pope Francis’ visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp, a reporter stated: “Silence was the response…
European bishops call for integrated response to poverty
The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) has issued a document calling on Member States of the European Union to Member “to develop together with civil society and Church actors an integrated approach to combat poverty and social exclusion in all its forms”. In ‘Rescue the Weak and the Poor’, the…
Meath schoolboy Ethan ecstatic with his own papal message
Pope Francis has brought some early Christmas cheer to a Co. Meath schoolboy who wrote to the Pontiff, seeking a hug when he visits Ireland in 2018. Six-year-old Ethan Toner was prompted to pen his letter when, on returning to a new term at St Dympna’s NS in Kildalkey, he felt unsettled and visited the…
World News in Brief
Christian umbrella group calls for action on church collapse The Christian Association of Nigeria, the umbrella body for Christian denominations in that country, has alleged that poor enforcement of building codes was directly responsible for the December 10 fatal church collapse. Investigators state that the official number of dead in the incident at the Reigners…