Fr Donal Neary SJ Catechesis on the Eucharist is needed, writes Fr Donal Neary SJ The recent document It is Good for us to be Here (Veritas 2015) from the National Liturgy Centre raises important and relevant concerns about the practice of weekday liturgy when a priest is legitimately absent. Much work over the past…

You know it was a scintillating papal press conference when, in reply to a question about Donald Trump, the Pontiff described the GOP candidate’s stance on immigration as “not Christian”, and arguably it wasn’t even the most important thing the Pope said. In the same news conference, Francis suggested he’s open to the idea of…

One small community has weathered Syria’s war, writes Paul Keenan Among the many hundreds of thousands who have died in the brutal struggle for control of Syria, the loss of Maronite Deacon Benjamin Camille, killed in 2013 as he worked in a Damascus suburb, is no less tragic and, at first glance, no more notable…

The Church teaches that reconciliation with God is the purpose and effect of the sacrament, writes Cathal Barry The whole power of the Sacrament of Penance, according to the Church, consists in restoring the faithful to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship. Reconciliation with God, the Church teaches, is thus…

Several years ago, while teaching a summer course at Seattle University, I had as one of my students a woman who, while happily married, was unable to conceive a child. She had no illusions about what this meant for her. It bothered her a great deal. She found Mother’s Day very difficult. Among other things,…

“there does appear to be something in Catholicism in America that is not present in many Irish parishes”, writes Michael Kelly I’m writing from the United States where I am attending the Religious Education Congress of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Irish Catholics who attend Mass in the US often return with memories of the…

A return of the Fine Gael-Labour coalition will further damage traditional values, writes David Quinn The social liberalism of the outgoing Government cannot be exaggerated. The same is likely to be true of the incoming Government, unless it is a Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil coalition, and even then it will be only somewhat less liberal. When…

“We should not forget the quiet but vibrant faith which still remains”, writes Andrew O’Connell Three simple stories taught me something of the mission of people of faith in Ireland today. Firstly, I was walking past a church in Dublin last week and, instinctively, blessed myself. A young woman walking against me noticed and, looking mildly…

Dr Ruth Cullen Many issues are troubling voters, but ultimately no issue is more important than protecting life. We cannot talk about care, compassion and respect for life and then in the same breath single out a particular category of human beings and say they are unworthy of any legal protection. Each human being regardless…

The long term integration challenge for a new Government is to build on goodwill, writes Eugene Quinn Ireland has long cherished itself as the ‘land of the thousand welcomes’. Yet the arrival of thousands of asylum seekers, refugees and forced migrant tests that principle in practice. In 2015 more than 3,000 people sought asylum in…