Michael Sainsbury   Although China and the Vatican signed a provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops in September, persecution of Chinese Catholics continues. Some believe there is considerable pushback against the Vatican-China deal from inside China’s United Front Work Department, the Communist Party-controlled religious bureaucracy, especially at a more localised level. “Many officials at…

The abortion bill is being rammed through the Oireachtas heedless of the views of huge numbers of voters, writes Denise Kelly   Last week, the Government’s abortion Bill progressed with alarming speed through one of the most crucial stages of the parliamentary process, Committee Stage. It now returns to the Dáil where a significant proportion…

Dennis Sadowski   At the urging of the Vatican, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops will not vote on two proposals they were to discuss at their Baltimore meeting regarding their response to the clergy sex abuse crisis. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, USCCB president, informed the bishops as they opened their autumn general assembly…

I live on both sides of a border. Not a geographical one, but one which is often a dividing line between two groups. I was raised a conservative Roman Catholic, and conservative in most other things as well. Although my dad worked politically for the Liberal party, most everything about my upbringing was conservative, particularly religiously.…

The Notebook   Fr Bernard Healy   Every year on November 1, after All Saints’ Day Mass, the community of the Pontifical Irish College heads to the Campo Verano Cemetery, just outside the walls of Rome, in order to pray midday prayer at the college burial vault. It’s a good way to begin the month…

Some years ago, when I was due to appear on a BBC television panel at this time of the year, the make-up girl, after powdering my face, went to pin a poppy on my lapel. The November poppy is, as most people know, a symbol of remembrance for the wartime dead of two world wars.…

We have just entered the month of the Dead. November is a time when, as Catholics, we are reminded that the dead are still with us. What, then, should we make of the increasingly gaudy – and gory – festival of Hallowe’en, just past? I must confess that I find Hallowe’en increasingly disturbing. Aside from…

The Church is a convenient scapegoat for Ireland’s historical sins, writes David Quinn   Last week I attended a conference at Notre Dame University in the US. Before proceeding to the main topic of this article, a word about Notre Dame itself is in order. When you visit it, one word comes to mind; majestic.…

US laity still have ‘serious partners’ in episcopate, writes Michael W. Higgins   Having barely weathered the media fallout of the McCarrick Affair and the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report with its indictment of some 300 priests over 70 years with a thousand abuse allegations, the American episcopate is bracing itself for a highly scrutinised meeting…

When is our life fulfilled? At what point in our lives do we say: “That’s it! That’s the climax! Nothing I can do from now on will outdo this. I’ve given what I have to give.” When can we say this? After we’ve reached the peak of our physical health and strength? After giving birth…