Category: News

The complicity within the hierarchy

  Ten years on the Church has still not addressed the credibility gap left by the scandals, writes Phil Lawler   Ten years have passed since the Boston archdiocese was engulfed in scandal, as the result of investigative reporting by the Boston Globe. Today, the faithful in Boston are still struggling to shake off the…

There is something heavenly in Leonardo Da Vinci’s work, writes Rory Fitzgerald from London   Leonardo da Vinci is currently visiting London. The most extraordinary collection of his works ever assembled in the British Isles is currently on display at London’s National Gallery. This exhibition is entitled ‘Painter at the Court of Milan’ and it…

A Mormon in the White House?

  Religion is moving centre-stage in the US presidential election, writes Kieron Wood   The victory of Mormon Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucus last week has once more highlighted the importance of religion in US presidential elections. In the 2012 Iowa caucus of January 3, Romney took only 25 per cent of the vote,…

Letter from Haiti: Rising from the rubble

  Two years after Haiti’s earthquake, Trócaire continues its work there, writes Eoghan Rice   In the labyrinth of narrow laneways that cut through Villa Rosa, Saul Darbouze leads us to the place he calls home. The path changes from concrete to mud as we enter further into this tangled web of side-streets and alleyways.…

Cleared priest resumes ministry

  A priest exonerated of sexual abuse has returned to full ministry in his Co. Down parish. Fr Sean Cahill stepped aside from Castlewellan-Kilmegan parish in February 2010 after an allegation was made against him. However, following an investigation by the PSNI, Fr Cahill was cleared of any wrongdoing in August. On New Year’s Day,…

Group takes embassy fight to Dáil

  A national lay initiative which grew out of the Government’s decision to close Ireland’s embassy to the Holy See is set to grow in 2012 with a high-profile public meeting with political leaders scheduled later this month beside the Dáil. The group Ireland Stand Up describes itself as ”one of several national lay initiatives…

Prayer kept me sane – Mickey Harte

  Tyrone GAA manager Mickey Harte has said that the power of prayer has helped his family to carry on over the past year since his daughter Michaela was murdered while on honeymoon in Mauritius. Just days earlier, Michaela had married John McAreavey who was to discover his bride dead on January 10 in their…

Philippines floods are preventable

  An Irish Jesuit based in the Philippines for 30 years said the country needs action more than compassion as relief programmes there continue to deal with the devastation of flash flooding caused by a tropical storm. Typhoon Washi struck from December 16 to 18, ravaging the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan on…

Irishman named bishop in Honduras

  Pope Benedict XVI has appointed an Irish Franciscan missionary to lead a diocese of nearly 400,000 Catholics in Honduras. Fr Michael Lenihan, a native of Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick, will head up the newly-formed Diocese of Le Ceiba in the Central American nation. He was ordained a member of the Franciscan Order (OFM) in 1980…

Pope picks US priest as new Irish Papal Nuncio

Pope picks US priest as new Irish Papal Nuncio Pope Benedict XVI has tapped New Yorker Msgr Charlie Brown to be the new Papal Nuncio to Ireland according to sources in the Department of Foreign Affairs. It is a significant move and the first native English-speaker to be appointed the Pope’s representative in Ireland since…