Fr Willie Doyle SJ is one step closer to sainthood after Bishop of Meath Tom Deenihan opened October 25 the canonisation cause of the Irish World War One chaplain serving in the British army. Servant of God Willie Doyle was born in Dalkey, Co. Dublin in 1873, and entered the Jesuits in Rahan, Tullabeg, Co.…
A 22-year-old man appeared in court this week charged with stabbing a priest six times in his home in Waterford. Indian priest Fr Bobit Augusthy of the Order of St Camillus, originally from Kerala, was hospitalised after the attack in his house which he shares with two other priests near Waterford Regional Hospital in Ardkeen.…
Staff Reporter US scholar of the ancient world, Thomas Cahill, best known for his lauded How the Irish Saved Civilization, died at the age of 82. Mr Cahill’s wife, Susan, said the cause of death was a heart attack. How the Irish Saved Civilization brought to widespread popularity the theory that Irish monks preserved western…
We must respond to the “urgency” of the Gospel to create a new expression of the Faith in a secularised cultured, said the new Bishop of Ossory. Bishop-elect Niall Coll said Ireland has a “long history of Christian witness” and “we have to believe the Holy Spirit is with us, that we’re going to do…
Senator Rónán Mullen has expressed his worry that Ireland’s trade relationship with China is “compromising our Government’s vigilance” on human rights issues China stands accused of. These comments come as Government officials confirm that a Chinese “police station” in Dublin has been ordered to close. A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said no…
Details are still emerging after a violent raid by Fulani herdsmen October 19 in Benue State, Central Nigeria, reportedly left dozens of Catholic villagers killed. Police and clergy agree that the raid was in reprisal for the killing of four Fulani herdsmen earlier in the week in a clash between herdsmen and farmers defending their…
Irish Benedictine monk and former prior of Glentsal Abbey Fr Placid has died aged 104 in Limerick this week. Born Michael Murray in Lismore, Co. Waterford in 1918 he made his simple profession in 1937 and was subsequently sent to Belgium where he studied philosophy and started studying theology. His community in Belgium fled the…
As Maryamu Joseph, a 16-year-old victim of Boko Haram violence, recovers from trauma after years of captivity, she finds it hard to forgive the men who abducted her. Maryamu recalls that one day when she was 7, armed men raided her community and went on a killing spree before she was abducted with 21 others.…
Pope Francis has appointed well-known theologian Fr Niall Coll as the new Bishop of Ossory, with the announcement coming via a communique Friday. Bishop-elect Coll (59) is a priest of the Diocese of Raphoe and up to this point has been serving as parish priest of Donegal Town. Speaking on the occasion of his appointment,…
Staff Reporter Around the world, listening sessions for the Synod of Bishops gave many participants a sense of finally being listened to, but they also raised questions about how to promote greater inclusion in the Church while staying true to eternal Church teaching. Two of the issues raised most often in reports sent to the…
Chai Brady
Ruadhán Jones