When Fr Gary Chamberland CSC arrived in Dublin to take up the role of rector at Newman University Church just off of St Stephen’s Green, it was not the beginning anyone could have expected. “It was the middle of the Covid shutdown about 100 years ago,” Fr Chamberland recalled with a laugh. The Massachusetts-born priest…
Just twenty minutes from Belfast city centre, the final remnants of the infamous Long Kesh internment camp still creak and sway in rusted decay, suspended somewhere between demolition and preservation. Of the notorious H-Blocks where the IRA hunger strikers died, only one remains. Guard towers still stand watch over a prison complex that otherwise lies…
Just like Christmas, St Patrick’s Day is now associated with secular traditions. Parties drowning in green shamrocks and leprechaun hats. But the creator of the St Patrick’s Dawn Prayer Gatherings doesn’t see that as a problem. Siobhán Brennan considers it “good fun and children love it. It’s creating memories.” What she believes is that this…
As the world turns green for St Patrick’s Day, the great outposts of the Irish diaspora will compete, as they always do, to outshine one another. In Chicago, the river will glow an impossible emerald. Beneath the spires of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Fifth Avenue will pulse with marching bands and tricolours. In Boston, Southie will…
It was the summer of 1986 when the teenage Gerry Sweeney drifted away from the sacraments. “I had been missing Mass and I knew something wasn’t right and I thought I better do something about it,” he recalls. He had been covering his tracks by getting other pals to pick up the parish bulletin. His…
By Frida Hennig and Pedro Esteva Young Catholics have responded to Bishop Niall Coll’s recent remarks about youth, who he referred to as “i-Gens”, seeking “clarity, coherence and tradition” rather than adaptability and experimentation, which can often seem fruitless. The Irish Catholic spoke to two “i-Gen” Catholics to get their perspectives on the Bishop of…
It was lashing across the Knockmealdown Mountains as we drove up the winding road to Mount Melleray. But as the car pulled into the gravel courtyard, the sky began to clear. The grey lifted, and there before us stood the great church against the wide Waterford landscape. For nearly two centuries, the monastery had been…
In the February 5 issue of The Synodal Times outlining the Apostolic Works of Mercy published last October by Pope Leo XIV, Bro. Donatus Forkan OH wrote about the extraordinary life and legacy of St John of God, founder of the St John of God Order of Hospitallers. Born Joao Cidade, better known today as…
The GAA has never been just about the glory of championship wins or the shine of All-Ireland medals. At its most basic, it has always been about characters, the kind of men and women who turn dressing rooms into theatres, parish pitches into stages, and ordinary Sundays into stories retold for decades. The humour stitched…
A conversation with the former national leader of Youth 2000 The role of the laity is to evangelise the world, to live and share the gospel out in the world. And I suppose … young people have a particular gift for that,” said Helena O’Shea, Galway Cathedral’s Operations Manager and former Youth 2000 National…
Renata Steffens
Martina Purdy