At this stage, everyone is well-familiar with the trials and tribulations of those grappling with Ireland’s housing situation. Whether you’re looking to buy or to rent, the plain fact of the matter is that there aren’t enough houses out there for everyone. Put simply, this is a thorn in the side of all looking to…
Those struggling with homelessness often become “closed off, guarded and secretive” in order to protect themselves, but Franciscan-founded Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) in Dublin City Centre offer an environment in which people feel respected and safe. From a platform of trust, staff can assist people to access physical and mental health and addiction services. As…
If there is a scale of how critical the housing crisis in Cork can be, it’s at the upper end, the head of Cork Simon told The Irish Catholic. The charity’s shelter is “packed to the rafters” every night, says Paul Sheehan, adding that what started out as a 47-bed shelter now typically accommodates 74…
At 80 years of age, having left school over 62 years ago, it’s fair to assume that most of my teachers have, by now, passed on. There is one, however, who is still hale and hearty, whom I feel so privileged to have been taught by and whom I still speak with regularly. And the…
An Irish Columban in South Korea tells of turbulent times for the east Asian nation with looming conflict and vanishing children at the forefront, hears Jason Osborne After 48 years in South Korea, it’s fair to say that Irish Columban, Fr Donal O’Keeffe has his finger on this prosperous nation’s pulse, and right now it’s…
Vatican seems an unlikely source for film recommendations. However, a new book wants to right that wrong by highlighting a hidden gem – a “very eclectic” list of “some important films” released by the Pontifical Commission for Social Communications in the 1990s. Released to mark the 100th anniversary of the first public exhibition of a…
The work Irish missionaries continue to do overseas has lessons for the entire NGO sector, hears Jason Osborne This year, Misean Cara is celebrating 20 years of supporting Irish missionaries around the world, aiding and empowering these silent heroes in their efforts to provide a better quality of life for “those left farthest behind”. Their…
In a world that continues to grapple with the echoes of history, a recent report from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) sheds light on the remarkable resilience of a quarter of a million Holocaust survivors still living today. This report, based on data collected by the Claims Conference, provides a…
A new collection showcases diversity of the Catholic poetry, hears Ruadhán Jones Catholicism and art, like faith and science, are not supposed to mix. Art is about ‘freethinking’, so it is assumed that subscribing to dogma can only limit your talent. A new book on Catholic poets blows this myth out of the water. Collated…
Lorraine Mulholland We know about saints’ lives through monks called hagiographers. Scholars say that you must bear in mind before you read the stories below, that hagiographers wrote about a saint’s way of life, rather than history as we know it today. One of St Brigid’s seven hagiographers, for example, was St Cogitosus, who wrote…
Chai Brady
Ruadhán Jones