Archaeologists in Israel believe they have uncovered the site of the biblical battle between David and Goliath. According to experts who have led excavations for the past seven years at a site today known as Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Elah Valley, the Old Testament city of Shaaraim has been found. The city is mentioned in…

The past is slowly catching up with President Duterte, writes Paul Keenan

Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick has called for a collective societal response in tackling addiction in Ireland. As he celebrated Mass to mark 50 years of the work of the Cuan Mhuire treatment centre in Bruree, Bishop Leahy said: “We owe it to one another in Ireland, as a collective work of mercy on the…

An Irish missionary nun is to receive a Presidential Distinguished Service Award for her lifetime of work in Sierra Leone and her courageous efforts in co-ordinating a response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak there. Sr Mary Sweeney, a Sister of St Joseph of Cluny and a native of Co. Donegal, has worked for over 40…

Ireland’s newest bishop has said the Vatican’s ‘baby bishops’ course was a valuable opportunity for networking and learning best practice from elsewhere in the world. Bishop-elect Fintan Monahan, who will be ordained Bishop of Killaloe this Sunday, September 25, said that the annual training course was “great – a very good experience, probably more so…

Mercy Sisters depart Rochfortbridge The Mercy Sisters have left their convent in Rochfortbridge, Co. Westmeath after 154 years working in the town. The last three nuns of the local congregation departed on September 18 after a special Mass of thanksgiving at Rochfortbridge church.  Far from being confined to the Westmeath town, since their first arrival in 1862, the…

A streamlined form for Irish couples getting married will be rolled out from the First Sunday of Advent, following delays caused by uncertainty over whether or not the form needed Vatican Approval. A decision was made some years ago to make the mandatory Pre-Nuptial Enquiry Form more accessible, with diocesan representatives meeting in Maynooth in…

Paul Keenan and Susan Gately The decision of the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) to campaign for abortion in the event of a referendum is a culmination of 15 years of activism by pro-abortion elements, a survey of recent annual meetings reveals. As far back as 2001, when the Fianna Fáil-led government proposed a constitutional amendment to overturn…

Pupils can feel vulnerable and embarrassed in sex education classes in school, according to a new study which looks at the experience of pupils in a number of countries, including Ireland. The study appears in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal. It also reports that pupils dislike their usual teacher teaching sex education.…

September 12 marked the 10th anniversary of perhaps the most controversial papal speech of the last half-century, an address given by emeritus Pope Benedict XVI in Regensburg, Germany, in 2006, which sparked a firestorm of protest across the Islamic world. In the opening section of the speech, Benedict cited a 14th-Century dialogue between a Byzantine…