Having been thrust into the public eye in the most awful circumstances imaginable, John McAreavey remains a man of immense faith 
and courage, writes 
Martin O’Brien   The two hours we had agreed for this rare and exclusive interview, requested by The Irish Catholic, just flew by. So, I was sorry when John McAreavey, husband…

Christmas in the Redemptoristine monastery in Dublin is a thing of joy. “It’s a huge event in the community,” Sr Lucy, Superior at the monastery tells me and I can feel the sheer happiness oozing from her. “We are like an extended family, though only God could have put us together. It is a beautiful…

The poet can help us declutter to prepare for the coming of Christ, writes Sr Una Agnew SSL   When Patrick Kavanagh leaves home to go to live in Dublin in 1939, he does so in the belief that, relieved of the constant constraints of farming, he will be free to pursue his writing ambition.…

As Poland votes to outlaw Sunday trading, Susan Gately wonders whether Ireland might follow suit Late last month, Polish MPs approved a bill aimed at phasing out Sunday trading by 2020. The bill which has been passed in the lower house of Poland’s parliament, restricts Sunday shopping to the first and last Sunday of the…

As Ireland prepares to open its arms to welcome families from across the world to the 9th World Meeting of Families, the 1000th registration for next year’s event in Dublin has just been recorded. Amongst those registered for the events from 21 – 26 August 2018, are families from Ireland and from 70 countries across…

Mary’s Land spreads across Ireland with Catholic message, writes Chai Brady     Although box office success seems to be the driving factor behind many of today’s high-grossing films, one man would be happy if his creation touched just one person’s life. Being cynical about the film industry isn’t hard. As sequel after questionable sequel…

While the Vatican assesses potential miracles attributed to the intercession of Pope John Paul I, a new books sheds light on events surrounding his death, writes Michael Kelly   It’s no coincidence that Dan Browne – author if The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons – chose the Catholic Church as the backdrop for…

If ever there was a precise date we can point to and say that it changed the world, October 31, 2017 would surely be a contender. Then it was that the young German professor, the Augustinian friar Martin Luther, gave notice of an academic debate around 95 ‘theses’, signalling the beginning of what we now…

Luther was by no means the first Christian to claim to be a reformer, Carlos Eire tells Greg Daly   Until the 1970s almost all historical writing about the Reformation was written from a confessional standpoint, according to Yale’s Prof. Carlos Eire. Since then, though, serious efforts at objectivity have been more commonplace, he says,…

The modern world was born with the publication of Luther’s 95 theses, writes Fintan Lyons   The year beginning October 13, 2016 was chosen to mark the fifth centenary of the Protestant Reformation because of Martin Luther’s posting of his theses against indulgences on that date in 1517, putting him squarely at the heart of…