A colleague of mine shares this story: recently, after presiding a Eucharist, a woman from the congregation came up to him with this comment: “What a horrible scripture reading today! If that’s the kind of God we’re worshipping, then I don’t want to go to Heaven!” The reading for that day’s liturgy was taken from…

“the God who calls is the God who loves, who forgives, the God who sees into our hearts and gently but very definitely coaxes us to be the very best person we can be”, writes Fr Martin Delaney Recently I returned to my home parish for the funeral of one of my neighbours, a Kiltegan…

“When someone objects to mandatory celibacy, it is because they imagine it to be a lonely life”, writes Editor, Michael Kelly The Pope’s right-hand man Cardinal Pietro Parolin this week cautioned against knee-jerk reactionary responses to problems facing the Church. Addressing a conference on the issue of priestly celibacy in Rome, the Vatican Secretary of…

“Duh! is one reaction” to sexual activities requiring consent, writes Mary Kenny There have been some mixed reactions to the news that Trinity College Dublin is planning to subject their students to “sexual consent workshops”. The object is to teach those Freshers – mainly men, evidently – that it’s not acceptable to engage in sexual…

The number of schools perceived to be oversubscribed is blown out of proportion, writes Cathal Barry The number of Catholic primary schools that are oversubscribed is drastically lower than has been reported, The Irish Catholic can reveal. Despite a widespread perception that 20% of primary schools are oversubscribed, a survey conducted by this newspaper has…

We should approach politics with an informed Catholic conscience, writes David Quinn I was speaking recently to a canvasser for one of the former Fine Gael TDs who was expelled from the party for voting against the 2013 abortion law. The canvasser told me that his candidate had been berated outside Mass by one or…

Matt Dempsey Pope Francis is perceptive in calling for sustainable and diversified agriculture, writes Matt Dempsey The 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ from Pope Francis on the care of our common home shows a man and a Pope that is visibly in touch with modern scientific, environmental and social issues. I probably should not have been…

Christians are closer, but theological obstacles to unity seem to be multiplying, writes Martin Browne OSB The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is over for another year. I have more than a passing interest in this annual observance. Ecumenical prayer and cooperation have long been an important part of my own spiritual journey. Added…

Fr Bernard Healy Cebu congress hears that the Eucharist offers something to all cultures, writes Fr Bernard Healy As I leave Cebu after the 51st Eucharistic Congress, I realise that that it was the catechesis given by  the irrepressible Cardinal Luis Tagle of Manila that best reflected my experience as an Irish pilgrim here in…

Religious leaders are working hard for peace across the Middle East, writes Paul Keenan “A truly great document. One that will influence our time and history.” If you cannot assign this quote – uttered just last week – to a leading prelate of the Catholic Church, you can hardly be blamed. Similarly, it might be…