The ultimate goal of marriage to Tyrone star Peter Harte’s mind is “to get each other to heaven”. Speaking recently in Drumragh parish, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Mr Harte said that just as you’re trying to get your spouse to heaven in marriage, you’re trying to get your children there too. Faith “Our challenge now for…
The role of religion in happiness
A great many people would probably acknowledge the pursuit of happiness as the goal undergirding many of the choices they make as they live out their lives. However, how many of us truly find it? It’s not as easy a thing to come by as many of us have heard our whole lives. So when someone…
Harvard prof praises religion’s role in tackling the ‘loneliness epidemic’ and bringing happiness
Faith plays a crucial role in living a happy life, Harvard Professor and social scientist Arthur Brooks has said. There’s a lot of research on the main happiness habits but faith and life philosophy are the first factors to be considered, Professor Brooks told The Irish Catholic newspaper. “What you do find is that people…
Family front and centre for Tyrone forward
If we all went home and loved our families, the world would be a better place, was Tyrone footballer Peter Harte’s message for families in Drumragh parish as he quoted St Mother Teresa. Occasioned by the World Meeting of Families in Rome, Drumragh parish in Omagh, Co. Tyrone celebrated a ‘vocation of the family Mass’…
Tributes pour in for The Irish News’s Jim Fitzpatrick
Chairman and former editor of the Irish News Jim Fitzpatrick has died. Mr Fitzpatrick, 92, had owned the newspaper since the early 1980s. Great privilege Taoiseach Micheál Martin led tributes, saying that he had the “great privilege” of knowing Mr Fitzpatrick for many years, and that he was “in every respect, a true gentleman”. “In…
Masterpiece manuscript digitised for all by Trinity
One of the most finely illustrated medieval manuscripts has been digitised by the Library of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) for the first time. Created by the renowned Benedictine monk and scribe of the 13th Century, Matthew Paris, the Book of St Albans features 54 individual works of medieval art that have fascinated readers throughout the…
Synod lays down the challenge to invest in faith formation
Jason Osborne in Athlone The need for an ambitious plan of adult faith formation has emerged as one of the key themes from the national pre-synodal gathering in Athlone. Church leaders described as “heartening” the appetite parishioners displayed to deepen their faith. While a report will now be sent to Rome to form the Irish…
Depression doubles as young people given no chance to flourish, chaplain says
Rates of depression among young adults doubling during the pandemic is “not a surprising set of statistics” as young people didn’t have the chance to flourish, coordinator of pastoral care and chaplaincy at Technological University Dublin (TUD) Fr Alan Hilliard has said. Data published by the ESRI showed that as of December 2020, four-in-ten 22…
Talking through disagreement as Catholics
Insult and bitterness are all the rage in modern discussions about the deep topics, but as Catholics we must model a different way, writes Jason Osborne I’m not sure if it’s always been like this, but discussions today about many, many topics – be it religion, politics, or otherwise – are more often fraught, tense…
Rally for Life returns in two weeks’ time
Ireland’s annual national march for life returns in just over two weeks’ time after two years of lockdown and is set to take place Saturday July 2, 2022. People are encouraged to join “the biggest and most exciting pro-life event of the year”, with the rally’s theme for 2022 urging the nation to “rethink abortion”.…