Pope Leo XIV has used the opening weeks of 2026 to make a pointed appeal to journalists: keep communication human in an age increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence. In a message sent to the Fédération des Médias Catholiques ahead of its St François de Sales gathering in Lourdes (January 21–23), the pope urged media professionals…
A month on from Christmas, most houses have returned to their ordinary shape. Decorations are packed away. Chairs are back where they belong. The table has resumed its everyday purpose. And yet, for many families, something noticed over Christmas has not disappeared. An empty chair. At Christmas, absences announce themselves. We become acutely aware of…
When we engage in conversation about addiction, there is a good chance that unless we have suffered from serious addiction ourselves, we will see ourselves apart from the group of people who have become enslaved to drugs, alcohol, gambling, pornography and the like. However, it is closer to the truth that all of us suffer…
Borders in Ireland have long been instruments of division, imposed by politics and hardened by history. For more than forty years, the line separating the Republic from Northern Ireland was a fault line of violence and fear, and it remains a political football for parties north and south of the border, first drawn after the…
Ireland’s Catholic landscape is changing. On any given Sunday, you might see a family from Kerala sitting beside an Irish grandmother who has prayed in the same pew for fifty years, a Filipino nurse lighting a candle after her night shift, or a Polish choir leading hymns. You might even notice the mixture of languages…
Meeting with Parish Priest Fr James O’Reilly in Duneane’s delightful parochial house, Co. Antrim, was a joy. Like the historic house itself, the parish is solidly rooted in Catholic tradition yet alive with the ever-moving breath of the Holy Spirit. There is a dynamism about Duneane’s sense of mission and ministry that is infectiously inspiring.…
A parochial response to combating loneliness in nursing homes The new year provides a unique opportunity to reflect upon who our neighbours might include. Those living around us immediately spring to mind, while those living in nursing homes are rarely considered unless they are family members or close friends. Yet loneliness is one of…
When most people think of Irish emigration, a familiar map unfolds in the mind. Today, the great draws are Melbourne and Sydney; in the 1970s and ’80s, it was London’s endless sprawl. Before that, the tide of Irish migration flowed powerfully toward North America, filling the streets of Chicago, shaping the neighbourhoods of Boston, and…
Fergal Horgan and the challenges facing the GAA There are countless names that spring to mind when we think of the players who have illuminated our games across the 141 years of the GAA. In every generation, in every position, the list of stars feels endless. Yet perhaps the most important figure of all is…
Author Diarmuid Johnson reflects on how the legacy of Ireland’s ancient monks continues to shape modern Europe, despite being forgotten at home “Much of the knowledge the old people once had about the local saints, the holy wells, the pilgrimages and the feast days was lost – and another version of faith has come to…