Christians need to work towards generating a “new narrative”, as the power-sharing talks resume in Northern Ireland, Bishop Noel Treanor has said. Inspired by Pope Francis’ World Day of Peace message in which he spoke of a “contemplative gaze”, the bishop of Down and Connor said there was a connection between contemplation and responsible politics.…
Seven bishops have responded to bishops’ conferences that issued guidelines that foresee the possibility of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics returning to the Sacraments in some circumstances. The norms and guidelines are the bishops’ responses to Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia. Archbishop Tomash Peta and Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana and retired Archbishop…
Catholics and people of goodwill should be “missionaries for the cause of life”, Armagh’s Archbishop Eamon Martin has said in a new year pastoral message that has been seen as the Church’s first major intervention ahead of next year’s expected referendum on abortion. “To serve human life is to serve God,” he said, quoting Pope…
Becoming a bishop in modern Ireland is a great step into the unknown, the incoming Bishop of Ossory has said. Speaking on Kilkenny’s St Mary’s Cathedral on the announcement of his episcopal appointment, Bishop Elect Dermot Farrell said he will have much to learn in the years ahead, and that being called to be a…
Catholic agencies in the US have been struggling to keep vulnerable people warm as a spate of brutally cold weather envelops the eastern two-thirds of the country. Temperatures plunged to -15C in some places. From Montana to Florida and Texas to Maine homeless shelters opened additional hours to shield people from frosty Arctic winds, which…
Witnessing the situations certain people are living in around the world is a reminder of the true meaning of hope according to a Phillipines cardinal. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle said that in his ministry as Archbishop of Manila and in his travels for church-charity Caritas he sees people living in situations the world would see…
Jesuits’ deaths ‘shock’ to Dublin school One of Dublin’s most prestigious schools has expressed its “deep shock” after the deaths of two long-serving staff members on the same day. Staff and students at Gonzaga College were informed on Monday of the deaths of Fr Joe Brennan SJ and Fr Kennedy O’Brien. “As you can imagine, the college community is in…
2017 was a bonanza year for Irish-based Mass streaming service Church Service TV (CSTV), with the number of parishes using the service increasing by 30%. The Bray, Co. Wicklow-based service live-streamed 59,888 scheduled events from 108 different locations over 2017, reaching some 15 million viewers from 205 countries over the course of the year. CSTV’s…
An England-based Irish nun died leaving estate worth over €10m in her will. Dublin-born Sr Francis, originally Veronica Kidney, a member of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters in Littlehampton, died in September 2016, leaving estate valued at €10,187,524, according to the Sunday Independent. Known to her four brothers and two sisters as ‘Lal’, Sr Francis was…
Admit sins and recognise faults urges Pope Fear and the shame of admitting one’s own sins leads to pointing fingers and accusing others rather than recognising one’s own faults, Pope Francis said. “It’s difficult to admit being guilty, but it does so much good to confess with sincerity. But you must confess your own sins,” the Pope said at his first…
Chai Brady
Susan Gately
Greg Daly