The families of people who were murdered during the Troubles face new horrors too regularly, writes Nuala O’Loan Last Sunday I attended the annual Remembrance Mass for the Disappeared at Armagh Cathedral. As I listened to St Luke’s account of the seizing, interrogation, torture and crucifixion of Jesus, I contemplated the horror and terror of…
Earlier pilgrims of the faith donned sackcloth and ashes during the Lenten period, whereas in today’s Ireland it’s arguably more a question of giving up KitKats or Guinness and saying extra Hail Marys – which is not to trivialise the Lenten sacrifices of the faithful but rather to set them in context against the serious…
One of the most famous quips that Bernadette Devlin – as a young and fiery Member of Parliament at Westminster – ever made was: “There’ll be no rioting in the golf clubs!” She was responding to concerns about civil unrest in Northern Ireland, which arose to confront the discrimination that prevailed in its governance.…
The Rupnik case continues to shake the Vatican and the Jesuit order to this day. The priest and artist is alleged to have sexually and spiritually abused numerous women. The trial against him is progressing slowly. The head of the worldwide Jesuit order is hoping for a swift conclusion to the Vatican proceedings against the…
He is more important to the Pope than many a curial cardinal: his nurse Strappetti, who saved his life. Since the Pope’s serious lung disease, he has been more visible than ever. And makes decisions. When Pope Francis appeared in public for a few minutes on 23 March and 6 April, a man in a…
Bishop Donal McKeown has spent his life walking with the faithful of the North of Ireland, through conflict and peace, through shifting cultural landscapes, and now through the changing face of the Church. As he approaches retirement, his reflections are not those of a man looking backward, but of one still sowing seeds for the…
The Clonard Solemn Novena started in the late 1970s and it is timed to coincide with the feast day of Our Lady of Perpetual Help on June 27 – the novena always takes place on the nine days prior to this feast in all Redemptorist churches throughout the world, and so as Rector Fr Brendan…
In parts of the devastated earthquake regions of Myanmar, ongoing attacks by the military are hampering the deployment of aid workers. The military government rejects a temporary ceasefire in the civil war country. According to local media (Wednesday), junta leader Min Aung Hlaing emphasised that the “necessary defence operations” would continue. Myanmar’s democratic underground government…
David O’Hare “According to the World Bank, climate change could push as many as 130 million people into extreme poverty by the year 2030, wiping out many of the development gains lower-income countries have made,” said Caoimhe de Barra, Trócaire’s CEO. Ms De Barra says the effects of climate change are having a particularly negative…
The example of the unfortunate aftermath of the closure of the Clonmel Friary offers us lessons for what to do when we close churches and when our church closes. There is no doubting the goodwill of the passionate volunteers that sought for the Church to remain open in Clonmel but in cases like this, we…
Nuala O’Loan
Mary Kenny
Chai Brady