The death penalty does nothing to hinder the drug trade, a leading Indonesian cleric has said. Speaking after Indonesia’s government announced the imminent execution of 15 prisoners, Fr Paulus Christian Siswantoko, executive secretary of the Indonesian bishops’ Justice and Peace commission, said, “the death penalty is not a deterrent to drug dealers. Many of them…
To mark the 50th anniversary of Frank O’Connor’s death, Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre will play host to ‘God Bless the Child: First confessions are the hardest!’ based on stories by Frank O’Connor and adapted for the stage and directed by Patrick Talbot The show will run for one week only, from June 6-11 and tickets from…
An Italian archbishop has warned Church-owned schools will close if the government forces them to pay property taxes worth around €100,000. Responding to a call from Ferrara’s mayor Tiziano Tagliani to pay retroactive property taxes on schools that charge a partial tuition fee, on the basis that this could be considered a “commercial activity”, Ferrara-Comacchio’s…
Crowds cause Clonard novena times change Clonard Monastery in Belfast has changed the session times of its annual Solemn Novena to facilitate the large crowds which are expected to attend. Each year up to 20,000 people attend the 10 daily sessions during the nine-day ‘festival of faith’ which runs between June 15 and 23 this year. There had been concerns…
The Philippines’ Catholic Bishops’ Conference has prepared a response to an attack on the Philippine Church by president-elect Rodrigo Duterte, but has decided not to publish it until after his presidential inauguration on June 30. The bishops’ response has been prepared against a background of apprehension that Mr Duterte’s accession to the presidency may see…
The winner of the caption competition (IC, May 5) featuring Bishop Paul Tighe and ‘The Edge’ from rock band U2 is Pauline Dunne from Enfield, Co. Meath. Pauline wins a copy of the beautiful book The Vatican: Secrets and Treasures of the Holy City by Fr Michael Collins.
Third level Catholic institutes provide an environment for the contest of ideas as well as the communication of ancient truths, writes Michael W. Higgins
Mercy is common ground for renewal Catholics and Lutherans are finding common ground in “the original, fundamental” emphasis of Martin Luther on “the Gospel of grace and mercy and a call to conversion and renewal”, the former president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity has said. Arguing in a new book that next year’s ecumenical commemoration of the…
New general secretary for CPSMA Seamus Mulconry has been appointed as the new general secretary for the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association (CPSMA). CPSMA chairman Martin Hanrahan welcomed the appointment saying Mr Mulconry’s experience as former director of Philanthropy Ireland “will greatly support boards of management and principals of Catholic primary schools as they seek to meet the many…
Christians have a mission to convert Muslims to Christianity, the Vatican’s ecumenism chief has said. Speaking at an interfaith meeting held by Cambridge University’s Woolf Institute, Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said the Christian mission requires even that Christians attempt to share the Faith with militant Islamist groups…
Courtney McGrail