Patrick Pearse once declared, “Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam,” meaning “A country without a language is a country without a soul.” Ireland could therefore be described as a nation without a soul. While most European countries enjoy their native tongue, Ireland has adopted English as its dominant language. Irish remains a vital part of…
Last week, the two branches of Venerable Mary Ward’s work were merged into one. On November 4, the Congregation of Jesus (CJ) and the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM), known as the Loreto Sisters, have merged into one congregation during Mass in Loyola, Spain. The merger brought together around 1,880 sisters worldwide under…
The images that continue to arrive from El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, Sudan, are horrific. Mass killings and indiscriminate violence against everyone, women, men and children alike, are the order of the day. For more than two and a half years now, amid deafening silence from the media and the international community, terrible news…
Pope Leo XIV has encouraged Christian Churches across Europe to continue walking together in faith and friendship, as they respond to a changing cultural landscape and the ongoing challenges of war, migration, and secularisation. The Pope was speaking in the Consistory Hall on November 6, where he met members of the Joint Committee of the…
For the hurling people of Wexford, one day shines brighter than any other. Nearly thirty years have passed, yet the memories of that afternoon remain vivid, a golden chapter in the county’s history, still told and retold wherever the purple and gold colours are cherished. In all of the GAA’s history, Wexford have lifted the…
As we celebrated the 400th anniversary of the birth of St Oliver Plunkett (1625–1681), we also remember another great figure of ecclesial renewal: Ladislas Örsy SJ, who died earlier this year on April 3, at the age of 103. A Hungarian-American theologian and canon lawyer (1921–2025), Örsy was one of the most insightful interpreters of…
Simon Harris statement on the Asylum process is a significant U-turn from Fine Gael. It’s an admission that Government has gotten it wrong. Indeed, Fine Gael had held the Ministry for Justice in the last Government and during that time the asylum process was allowed to proceed in chaos. It is the actions of Helen…
It’s easy to forget just how long Limerick wandered through the barren hurling wilderness before the emergence of the modern-day team that has not only conquered the county’s demons but rewritten nearly every record in the book. For forty-five long years, Shannonside endured a famine. Entire lifetimes passed without a Limerick man climbing the steps…
There are souls who walk among us whose light quietly illuminates the world, leaving footprints long after they are gone. Sr Stan Kennedy, who just recently went home to God at the age of 86, was one such soul. She was fearless, tireless, compassionate and unwavering in her love for the poor, the marginalised, the…
For some Catholics, Mary as the mother of Jesus herself has an almost divine significance. The Vatican’s religious authority has now emphatically pointed out the limits of this veneration. The Vatican is warning Catholics and theologians to overstep the boundaries of the Christian faith when it comes to the veneration of Mary. A ‘Doctrinal Note’…
Renata Steffens
Fr Barry White