The newly appointed Bishop of Derry has appealed to Irish Catholics to rediscover Knock Shrine and the joys of pilgrimage. Speaking as the annual Knock Novena begins on August 13, Bishop Michael Router spoke of the importance of the Co. Mayo shrine for the Irish people. “Sometimes,” said Bishop Michael Router, “we don’t find it…
A relative of the Maguire children, whose tragic deaths in 1976 inspired a peace movement in Belfast, has described the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann as a “miracle.” “We used to be dying in the streets, and now we are dancing in the streets,” said Gerry Grehan, whose family was catapulted into world headlines this week…
It was Palm Sunday, 2019 and the words from Luke’s Gospel were echoing in the heart of the Cavan priest. “Into your hands, O Lord…” The following day he would celebrate requiem Mass for a relative – before heading to Dublin to meet the Papal Nuncio. In his forty years as a priest in Kilmore…
Jeff Cavins has a gift for communicating the Good News – with wit, insight and a boldness that cuts to the chase and the heart. More than a decade on, I still remember his refreshing talk at a Faith and Life convention in Belfast. The leading American evangelist, and biblical scholar, was addressing an audience…
In the way to lead scores of teenagers in an end-of-term retreat last week, my fellow faith leader and I stopped for a break. On mission in Co. Antrim – a long way from Antioch – the words of Venerable Fulton Sheen were ringing in our ears: “There’s God – and coffee!” As we turned…
The Bishop of Down and Connor took time to visit international staff at a Belfast hospital, after the homes and businesses of immigrants were viciously targeted last week in his diocese. “You are not alone,” the Bishop told nurses and other staff after a wave of orchestrated violence in which families were forced from their…
Christians in Belfast took to the hills last week – after violence and hatred erupted in our city once again. Frankly, I was ready for the hills myself at the thought of returning to the bad old days when Belfast made headlines for all the wrong reasons. But then, on the Feast of the Sacred…
On a press trip to Disneyland some years ago, I met a man who took his children to Mass every Sunday even though he had no faith. Why go? I asked. “Because it is good for my children,” he said. He liked Catholic values. This man came to mind as I listened to Maedbh King…
What do you do when a convent dies? It is a question for our times, sadly, with the death of vocations and, frankly, a lack of appreciation for religious sisters, past and present. I was intrigued when Co. Down businessman Ciaran Fitzpatrick contacted me about the old Mercy Convent in Downpatrick, which had been officially…
The title of the upcoming Catholic retreat in Co. Antrim made me smile. ‘The Music of Leonard Cohen: A Window to the Divine’. When I was a teenager in Toronto, my pals did not share my love of Leonard Cohen’s work. They called it: ‘‘Let’s all jump out the window music’”. But even then, I…