Irish missionary work in Venezuela is worth celebrating even in troubled times, Greg Daly learns This summer, Ireland’s Sacred Heart Missionaries (MSC) celebrated the 50th anniversary of their mission in Venezuela, but compared with 1992’s silver jubilee, the mission’s golden jubilee celebration was a low key affair. “We had a Mass first,” explains Fr…
Catholic debate has revolved around a literal life-and-death issue since Pope Francis’ declaration last week that the death penalty is “contrary to the Gospel” and should be abolished. As usual, it’s always better to read the Pope’s own words in full – for example at en.radiovaticana.va – than to get embroiled in others’ comments, but…
‘Light touch’ regulation causes concern A culture of light touch regulation leaves vital issues like Ireland’s protection of the unborn at the mercy of well-funded lobby groups, a member of the Dáil’s committee on the Eighth Amendment has warned. It comes as it was revealed that Amnesty International Ireland has pinpointed abortion as its…
Martin Luther’s original intent had been to renew and reform the Church, not to divide it, according to Limerick’s Bishop Brendan Leahy, calling for this to be remembered in today’s ecumenical efforts. Luther saw this as his reformation as based on a return to the original form of Christianity in the sense of the Gospel…
Parishes and port chaplaincies can play a key role in tackling human rights abuses at sea, especially for those trapped in the “invisible chains” of human trafficking, Ferns’s Bishop Denis Brennan has said. “People imagine it happens somewhere else, but it happens here too,” Dr Brennan told The Irish Catholic, adding that with given the…
Missionary legacy inspired WMOF Pope Francis chose Ireland to host next year’s World Meeting of Families to make sure Irish Catholics would take part in a ‘revolution’ promoting marriage and family life, one of the Pope’s key advisors has said. Dublin-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who heads the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, said…
Efforts to deny rape survivors who had refused abortions speaking venues in Dublin are part of a concerted effort to shut down pro-life voices, Sinn Féin TD Peadar Tóibín has said. Mr Tóibín was one of 11 members of the Oireachtas who last week signed a statement expressing concern about the increasing inability of businesses…
Why the Irish Church Deserves to Die. Ballyfermot-based priest Fr Joe McDonald could hardly have chosen a more inflammatory title for his first book, calling for Irish Catholics to embrace the reality of a dying Church and work for a resurrection. The title’s not idly chosen, he says, explaining how there’s a point in the book…
With the World Meeting of Families now less than a year away, it wasn’t surprising that this year’s Faith and Life Convention in the Diocese of Down and Connor should have focused in large part on the theme of family, not least as expressed in Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis’ exhortation on marriage and the family.…
The pseudo-traditionalist website rorate-caeli.blogspot.com has become perhaps stranger than ever in the aftermath of the much-ballyhooed ‘filial correction’ of Pope Francis. It’s getting attention, as Roberto de Mattei says on the site, though it’s hard to justify his claim that it’s had an “extraordinary impact”, even if it’s been widely reported even in Russia and…