Br Luiz Otavio S. Silva, O. Carm I was born in Recife, capital of the state, the youngest of three children, and lived most of my life in a town called Escada, 61km away. I was raised in the Catholic religion from the cradle, having very fond memories of a childhood spent in contact with…
News in brief A new novena prayer to St Francis of Tour has been composed by Fr Roland Colhoun, based in Co. Tyrone. “For the last fortnight, I’ve been praying for a young fellow who is trying to make some important decisions for his future. In the closing days of October, he asked my…
The Fontana di Trevi in Rome is being restored – like so many sights in the Eternal City. However, tourists do not have to do without the coin toss. The Fontana di Trevi in the historic centre of Rome has been pumped dry for renovation. The baroque masterpiece is to be given a footbridge by…
Dear Editor, Discussions about legalising assisted suicide raise serious concerns about the protection of the vulnerable and the potential consequences. If assisted suicide becomes law, the elderly, the sick, and people with disabilities may face subtle pressures, both social and economic, to choose death rather than life. A culture will emerge where individuals are made…
Honour thy Father and Mother’ is an instruction that comes to us from on High. But it is not just a Catholic or Christian demand. Until recently it had been timeless and universal. It was an instruction that was central to the proper organising of society. It was often taken as a given, an objective…
Speaking in advance of the US presidential election, Fr Gary Chamberland CSC, an American priest who has been ministering for four years in Ireland, said that Irish people follow the latest political trends in the US like “it’s a sport” and that people in the country feel that it’s “their election” because of the implications…
The Carmelite nuns of Arlington do not recognise their dismissal from the order. The vows they have made to God can neither be cancelled nor taken back, writes the prioress, Mother Teresa Agnes, who is not recognised by the Vatican, in a statement published on the convent’s website on Wednesday. They have no intention of…
“If assisted dying is legalised then the elderly, the sick and people with disabilities are vulnerable to cultural coercion, i.e., to messages of ‘you’re no longer useful or wanted, ….you are a burden on society’ Bishop Martin Hayes has warned. A member of the Irish Episcopal Conference’s Council for Life, he was responding to the…
Fr Marcelo Pérez, a priest of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas in the Mexican state of Chiapas, died on October 20, killed by two men who shot him after he had celebrated Mass. His diocese now remembers him as a “tireless apostle of peace”. According to information provided by the diocese through a statement…
In a reply this week to a letter writer in The Irish Times, Alan Hynes, who is Chief Executive of the Catholic Education Partnership says the writer “presents an understanding of faith all too often found among people of no religion: that the main appeal of faith is comfort or soothing, particularly in the face…