What we cease to celebrate we will soon cease to cherish. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the religious congregation to which I belong, The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. We have a proud history, 200 years now, of ministering to the poor around the world. This merits celebrating. As a…

“Everything about that celebration was… a celebration of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, inclusion”, writes Fr Martin Delaney In 2013, when the movie Philomena was released, worldwide attention was focused briefly on Seán Ross Abbey near Roscrea, Co. Tipperary. Seán Ross was the mother and baby home where Philomena Lee had given…

“I sometimes also wonder about the centrality and prominence that safeguarding has taken in the life of the Church”, writes Editor, Michael Kelly The watchdog set up to monitor the Church’s adherence to stringent child protection rules has published a new set of ‘standards’. Amongst other things, the document aims to redress a perception that…

“Based on the numbers, the Year of Mercy is proving to be extremely dissatisfying from Rome’s point of view”, writes Editor Michael Kelly It would be both unfair and untrue to call the jubilee year of mercy a flop, but it’s not going to be anything like the Great Jubilee of 2000. I was in…

“RTÉ clearly takes the responsibility of connecting people with this faith experience very seriously”, writes Editor Michael Kelly RTÉ is often roundly (and rightly) criticised for an apparent hostility towards faith and Catholicism in particular. Many people saw the disgraceful 2011 defamation of Fr Kevin Reynolds as confirmation of bias, or even an anti-Catholic agenda,…

“The heritage of ancient Holy Ireland has been woefully underdeveloped in recent years – almost ignored”, writes Mary Kenny One of the leading items on my ‘bucket list’ (things to do before you die) would be to walk the Camino of St James in Spain – or at least to walk some of it. It…

“Most Palestinians live peacefully, as best they can in what is left to them of their homeland, but it gets harder and harder to make a living”, writes Nuala O’Loan As I write this I am sitting close to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, having spent several wonderful, challenging days in the Holy…

We have a responsibility to ease the burden on countries that are immediate neighbours to war-torn regions, writes David Quinn Europe is currently embroiled in the greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War. It has been precipitated by the collapse of authority in Libya, and in large parts of Iraq and, of course, by…

Calling women as deacons is at least worth talking about Phyllis Zagano The early Church had a problem. As it grew, the apostles could not attend to all its ministries. As Pope Francis said, when speaking to assembled bishops in Philadelphia, last September, the apostles essentially ‘invented’ the diaconate. The beginnings of the diaconate related…

The Church teaches that ecclesiastical ministry is exercised in different degrees, writes Cathal Barry The ministerial priesthood has the task not only of representing Christ before the assembly of the faithful, but also of acting in the name of the whole Church when presenting to God the prayer of the Church, and above all when…