Pope Francis’ first book The Name of God is Mercy is published this week. Here The Irish Catholic carries extracts from the book. In his almost three years as Pope, Francis has urged all Catholics, especially priests and bishops, to get out of their comfortable church buildings and take the message of God directly to…
Fr Éamonn Fitzgibbon A diocesan synod is both a process and an event, writes Fr Éamonn Fitzgibbon Bishop Brendan Leahy announced in September 2014 his intention to hold a diocesan Synod by means of a pastoral letter entitled Together In Mission: A Time to Begin Again, inviting all of us to go together on a…
Recent severe flooding has mobilised communities to come to the aid of their neighbours, writes Mags Gargan Parishes and dioceses across the country which have suffered the terrible devastation of a month of flooding, are reporting that an incredible community spirit has seen locals springing into action to help their neighbours. With water levels peaking…
Jean Vanier is a spiritual point of reference in the turbulent seas of contemporary discord, writes Michael W. Higgins Canada is a very secular nation, unlike its neighbour to the south. The face of religion is very much a private one. Canada may not have a doctrine of laïcité in theory, but in practice it…
Olympian Kelly Gallagher is passionate about helping visually-impaired children in the developing world, writes Michael Kelly When one thinks of sports that Irish Olympians have excelled at in recent years boxing and show jumping are probably the first things that come to mind. But what about the winter Olympics? Most people draw a blank. It’s…
In 1969, the poet Richard Murphy purchased High Island, now called Ardoileán, a small island rich with early Christian remains in the vicinity of Inishbofin off Galway, a place with which he had been associated since 1954. “I got excited at the thought of buying this inaccessible holy island, restoring the beehive cells and oratory…
In 1966, when the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, in which he had fought, was being marked, Joe McGrath, revolutionary, politician and founder of the Irish Sweep among many other businesses, died in his Co. Dublin home, Cabinteely House. His family did not want to live in the 18th Century mansion, swathed in Virginia…
Mags Gargan visits a choir for people suffering from memory loss
Peter Costello reports from the National Archives on the release under the 30-year rule of confidential state files from 1985
The Vatican: Ireland’s diplomatic listening post In recent years the justification of Ireland maintaining an embassy in both the Vatican and Italy has been the subject of much controversy, with the Vatican legation being abolished and then re-established. The Government seems to have taken little cognisance of the fact that the Italian State does not…
Mags Gargan
Michael Kelly
Courtney McGrail
Peter Costello