The order is working to maintain its presence but vocations are dwindling, Fr Aidan McGrath OFM tells Ruadhán Jones Earlier this year, the Irish Franciscans closed two of its houses in Ireland, one in Clonmel, another in Waterford. The order continues to maintain eight houses around the country, but with vocations dwindling and an aging…
Drastic droughts are causing hugely challenging conditions for farmers and communities in Africa, which charity Concern are tackling, writes Chai Brady Many Europeans have seen the devastating impacts of climate change on their own continent, with summer conflagrations regularly on the news. This may bring home the fact that climate change is driving – to…
Missionary support to developing communities is very important, Sr Josephine McCarthy tells Ruadhán Jones Whether it be in health, education or sustainable farming, the support offered by missionaries is fundamentally important to developing communities, says Sr Josephine McCarthy PBVM “Missionaries are extremely well placed to know what’s needed on the ground because they’re there among…
Protecting children’s hearts from junk food marketing is essential, Chai Brady hears Irish people are now living longer than ever before due to advances in medical science and technology as well as better health education, but this does not come without its challenges. Over the decades more health problems will arise and need to be…
Legacies help to provide sports, health, wellbeing and community for people with intellectual disabilities, writes Jason Osborne You may remember the joyous scenes that graced our screens at the beginning of the summer, as Irish athletes took part in and returned home from the Special Olympics World Summer games 2023, which took place in Berlin.…
In times of deep crisis in Church and State in the past, God raised up heroic visionaries, writes Msgr Dan O’Connor St Benedict, Patron of Europe, and his twin sister Scholastica lived at a time of civil unrest and upheaval in the Church. They became lights of hope for Christ’s people, through their monastic foundations…
A new book aims to show us that questions rather than commandments bring us closer to God and one another, writes Jason Osborne The Dominican Order has long been associated with the disciplined pursuit of truth, and the only tool we have for questing after truth is the question. With that in mind, it’s shameful…
Narrow secular definitions of diversity railroad debates about immigration, liberalism and more, Chai Brady hears A rapid societal shift in Ireland has led to what is often called the ‘culture wars’, a phenomenon occurring in many democratic societies which at best has led to healthy debate and discussion, at worst, distress and rage. Prof. Bryan…
Pope Francis told 1.5 million weary-eyed and sleep-deprived young people in Lisbon not to let their “great dreams” of changing the world be “stopped by fear”. In his homily for the closing Mass of World Youth Day on Sunday the Pope asked for “a bit of silence” from the pilgrims who, after staying overnight in…
Before 200,000 pilgrims at Fátima, many of them with tears in their eyes, Pope Francis called for a new Marian devotional title – ‘Our Lady in a Hurry’ – to describe how Mary hastens to care for all her children. “There are many Marian invocations,” he told the crowd at the Shrine of Our Lady…
Chai Brady
Michael Kelly
You must be logged in to post a comment.