Courtney McGrailMark Patrick Hederman’s latest book, in which he explores the search for a new ethics for Ireland, has entered the bestsellers list just weeks after publication. The Opal and the Pearl examines sexuality in the lives and writings of James Joyce, Iris Murdoch and W.B. Yeats. Published by Columba Press, the book by the former…
Category: News
Bishop pleas for international help to tackle Somalia’s drought
Bishop Giorgio Bertin of Djibouti has urged the international community to focus on alleviating the drought in Somalia, as six million people experience severe food shortages and contend with the al-Shabab extremist group. Bishop Bertin expressed fear that the country may slip into a famine if action was delayed. “The Somali government, international community and…
Pope’s commission sceptical about later Medjugorje visions
Mags Gargan
The commission investigating alleged visions of Our Lady at Medjugorje has reportedly recommended early apparitions be accepted as authentic, but casts doubt upon later claims of visions. According to reports in the Italian media this week, the overwhelming majority of the 15-member body voted in favour of recognising the supernatural nature of the first seven…
Drugs no excuse for death penalty – Indonesian Church leaders
Church leaders in Indonesia have criticised the government for using the country’s drugs problem as an excuse for rejecting the UN recommendation to abolish the death penalty. The recommendation, put forward at the 27th session of the UN Universal Periodic Review in Geneva, which reviewed Indonesia’s human rights situation, was rejected by Law and Human…
Abortion poll shows support limited
The Pro Life Campaign (PLC) has said it is confident that polls showing support for abortion would change rapidly in the event of any referendum “as people start to reflect on what the changes would mean in practice and how it would open the door to abortion on wide-ranging circumstances”. A survey by Behaviour &…
President Higgins to meet with Pope Francis in Rome
President Michael D. Higgins is expected to meet with Pope Francis during a visit to Rome next week. The visit, which is set to take place in the Vatican’s Papal Library, will be the first private meeting between the two heads of state. President Higgins previously met the Pontiff at the papal inauguration ceremony in…
Rita Ora reveals pride at singing for Pope
Pop superstar Rita Ora has revealed that one of her proudest moments was performing at the Vatican last year, at a ceremony to mark the canonisation of Mother Teresa, a fellow native of Kosovo. “Oh, it was beautiful,” she said. “To hear my voice in that room – incredible reverb, by the way – was…
Teaching the teachers is ‘Irish Church’s top priority’
Greg Daly
Teachers and parents need support in helping prepare children for Christian lives, a leading theologian has said. Speaking after an education conference in Limerick’s Mary Immaculate College, which discussed whether sacramental preparation should be taken out of schools, Prof. Eamonn Conway said the conference affirmed the importance of very close working relationships between parents, parish,…
Ashers profits rise after ‘gay cake’ case
Staff reporter The Northern bakery run by a Christian couple who last year lost a discrimination case over refusing to make a cake advocating same-sex marriage saw their profits rise in 2016. Controversy around Daniel and Amy McArthur’s Ashers Baking Company’s 2014 refusal to make a cake bearing the slogan ‘Support gay marriage’ has not…
Bill would ‘destroy’ faith schools
Draft educational legislation would destroy faith-based schools, religious freedom think-tank The Iona Institute has warned. It was responding to the ‘Equal Participation in Schools Bill’ proposed by Ruth Coppinger TD. The draft proposes to take away the right of denominational schools to have a religious ethos and would require religious education to take place outside…