A new Irish podcast hopes to reinvigorate men’s Faith – Ruadhán Jones speaks to some ‘Holy Joes’ about their popular recordings Three Catholic dads are looking to fill the gap in the Irish Church, providing a faith-filled podcast for Catholic men writes Ruadhán Jones The Irish are some of the most avid consumers of podcasts…

Historian Fr Thomas McCoog SJ surveys the landscape in which Catholics became the prime suspects for the Great Fire of London. What could they have discussed? Unfortunately, our knowledge of the conversation between the English Jesuit Edward Courtney (vereLeedes) and King Charles II consists solely of a few comments in a letter. Courtney, the English…

Pamela Seal The entire five-parish region of the Diocese of Lake Charles was impacted by Hurricane Laura’s brutal wrath of destruction as the Category 4 storm made landfall along the Gulf Coast in the early morning hours of August 27. But through it all, Bishop Glen John Provost never left the diocese. Churches and rectories…

The Sunday Gospel Fr Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap. In today’s Gospel (Matthew 18:21-35) we continue the moral teaching of how to follow the ideals of Jesus Christ if we wish to be true followers. One of the greatest signs of genuine Christianity is the ability to forgive. Today’s first reading tells us “resentment and anger,…

The case of the mistaken baptism is a reminder of the Sacraments’ centrality writes Ruadhán Jones It’s not often that an apparently obscure verdict on a question of Catholic doctrine has especially dramatic effects. When the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) announced that baptisms where the deacon or priest said “we” instead…

Despite the challenges, rumours of the Church’s demise are greatly exaggerated Bishop Paul Dempsey tells Michael Kelly When the parish priest of Newbridge Fr Paul Dempsey got a call from the Pope’s ambassador in Dublin in mid-December requesting a meeting he quickly made arrangements to go to the capital. The Papal Nuncio Archbishop Jude Okolo…

A unique Sunday Vigil Mass was celebrated at Eoghan Rua GAA grounds in Portsteward, Co. Derry with about a 100-person strong congregation. It took place in mid-August on the club pitch. Attendees included Matthew who recently received his First Holy Communion and several parishioners who had been cocooning from the coronavirus who were attending Mass…

The Sunday Gospel Fr Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap. We have reached a section of Matthew’s Gospel which deals with practical moral issues that occur in our lives. Today’s reading (Matthew 18:15-20) is about the delicate matter of how to correct somebody who is going off the rails. Facing another person is one of the toughest…

New technology offers a fascinating insight into the religious nature of the early Irish writes Jason Osborne The veil of time has been pulled back and a direct glimpse into Ireland’s pre-historic past was offered as a joint team of archaeologists from Belfast and Aberdeen unearthed what they believe to be evidence of a series…

Banned under lockdown, we can now return to the sacraments but not as we knew them writes Ruadhán Jones Typically, almost 17,000 children are confirmed every year in the Archdiocese of Dublin alone. Only a minute percentage of these have been able to take place thus far. Similarly, during lockdown thousands of weddings were cancelled…