Last week, Pope Leo XIV proclaimed St John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Universal Church and co-patron of Catholic Education alongside St Thomas Aquinas. This marked the climax of an extraordinary week in Rome, during which Pope Leo XIV also published an Apostolic Letter entitled Drawing new maps of hope. The Letter commemorates and…

Recently, I read a book, The Grieving Body. It mingles author Mary Frances O’Connor’s own experiences of death, particularly of her parents, with extensive research on the effect of grief on the human body. She also references other types of grief, including her own diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and the loss of her first spouse…

When I first entered religious life, letters would arrive at our Falls Road convent in Belfast, addressed to Phyllis Bishop. Who is Phyllis Bishop, I wondered? Is she on the run from the mob? I would muse to myself. Eventually, I worked out that she was in fact, the oldest sister in our community –…

Ever felt like cutting off all contact with your family? There’s a slew of self-help books currently published which encourage individuals to do just that. These bear such titles as ‘The Power of Parting: Finding Peace and Freedom Through Family Estrangement, by Eamon Dolan; Surviving the Toxic Family by Marina Williams; Rules of Estrangement –…

It has been said that the leaders of tomorrow are in today’s classrooms. Assuming this also applies to future leaders in Catholic education then we have a major challenge on our hands. There are growing concerns about the extent to which the culture and ethos of Catholic schools can continue to support and nurture faith…

There is a sense in which anyone of a certain age is a product of Catholic Ireland, including those who react against it, but some are more formed by it than others. You can just see the indelible impression Catholic Ireland has left on them, and one such person in my opinion, is our president-elect,…

On Monday afternoon, my phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a call from The Irish Catholic, wondering about this week’s article! Alas, I had forgotten. For six days, I had been part of a group of forty-six pilgrims from the Dioceses of Achonry and Elphin, visiting Rome to celebrate the Jubilee of Hope. On…

A line runs through my childhood, the time before I went to Canada, and the time after. Aged five, the Troubles put paid to my Irish upbringing; but, I well remember bobbing for apples in Belfast at Halloween. It was a simple enough game, hands behind your back, trying to bite a bouncing apple on…

Who would have predicted, in 1534, when Henry VIII broke with Rome, that 491 years later, Henry’s successor, Charles III, would embrace, and pray with, the successor to Clement VII, Pope Leo XIV? What a historic moment this meeting has been, and what reflections it prompts about the course of history. Consider the long years,…