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…
It is the truth, spoken quietly but with conviction and clarity by children who are victims of sexual abuse, that wins justice for them in courts of law and by which they gain freedom from the domination of their abusers. Their abusers are frequently their biological father, stepfather, live-in partner of their mother, grandfather, brother,…
It is not enough to love the young, they must know that they are loved,” St John Bosco once famously said. Christine O’Hara, a secondary school teacher at Coláiste Chríost Rí in Cork has applied the saint’s advice in her work as a Catholic educator, providing a safe and reflective space for her students in…
Dr Hugo Slim says humanitarian action must protect both people and the world they depend on There is a painting by Francisco Goya entitled ‘Fight with Cudgels’. Two men furiously swing at each other in desperate concentration, locked in combat, yet they are unaware that they are both sinking into the same ground beneath them.…
Three weeks ago, I flew across the European continent, across the Middle East, to my hometown of Kerala, a state that needs no introduction with fellow Catholics. It had been two years since I visited my state in India, and this time, I wasn’t alone. My close friend from the Rathmines Parish Young Adults group,…
In Week 1 of his Lumen Gentium catechesis, Pope Leo XIV explains that the Church is both a sign and an instrument of God’s plan of salvation. Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome! When the Second Vatican Council, to whose documents we are dedicating the catecheses, wanted to describe the Church, it…
Fr Brian Lennon SJ takes issue with the Catholic position on the ordination of women to the priesthood (The Irish Catholic, 12/2/2026). In making his case, Fr Lennon begins with an emotional appeal. A female chaplain can comfort a dying patient only to the point of giving them the Sacrament of the Sick. Then she…
Three and a half decades ago, a Kildare man climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand to lift the Sam Maguire aloft, capping the greatest summer of all for those on Leeside. The towering figure of Larry Tompkins captained his adopted county to their sixth All-Ireland title, their second in a row, and their second…
Renata Steffens