Letter from Rome Elise Harris For pilgrims flocking to Rome’s famed Scala Santa last week as they commemorate Jesus’ crucifixion and death and ultimately his Resurrection, the opportunity to climb the famed relic on bare marble for the first time in 300 years is something many said has brought them closer to God. Giuliana Saginario said:…
Claire Giangravè Even as Holy Week unfolded, historians and experts in monument restoration weighed in on the implications and repercussions of the blaze that nearly destroyed the iconic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on last week. Regardless of the time, money and resources needed to bring the church back to its splendour, they all shared…
Where should we be casting our eyes? Upward, downward, or just on the road that we’re walking? Well there are different kinds of spiritualities: Spiritualities of the Ascent, Spiritualities of the Descent, and Spiritualities of Maintenance, and each is important. Spiritualities of the Ascent are spiritualities that invite us to strive always for what’s higher,…
At many parishes across the world, Massgoers enthusiastically sang “Easter glory fills the sky” on Sunday morning. It was dark plumes of smoke that filled the skies above churches in Sri Lanka as parishioners gathered for the most important festival in the Christian calendar. Occasions like Easter Sunday and Christmas Day are usually occasions of…
Dear Editor, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s reminder that the Society of St Vincent de Paul should not neglect its identity is a vitally important one and something more of our charities would do well to heed. Pope Francis, after all, in his very first Mass as Pope cautioned us against becoming simply a “compassionate NGO”. It’s…
I can hear it now! A question in a table quiz, 50 years from now: “Which animal is associated with both the first horse since Red Rum to win back to back Grand Nationals and the greatest comeback in golfing history on two consecutive weekends during April 2019?” As I watched Tiger Woods’ extraordinary victory…
Pope Emeritus Benedict has met with some criticism and mockery on social media for writing, in a Bavarian journal, that the sexual revolution of the 1960s was one of the causes of the clerical abuse scandals – ushering in a general ‘collapse’ in morality. I lived through this period of the 1960s – in the…
RTÉ documentary came from a strange place, writes David Quinn It is hard to know what the point of Rome v Republic was. The programme aired last week on RTÉ and was presented by former Justice Minister Michael McDowell. It repeated talking points about the Church and its relationship to Irish society and the…
The View Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has published an essay commenting on the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church for some time. The former Pope broke his usual silence in order, in his own words, “to contribute one or two remarks to assist in this difficult hour”. At the heart of…
Letter from Rome Inés San Martín Acting as the interim replacement for a cardinal subpoenaed by civil prosecutors for alleged sex abuse cover-ups, and facing questions about his own record in responding to abuse charges, the new man in Santiago, Chile, says he’s got only one “pastoral proposal”, and it’s expressed in his motto…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny
David Quinn
Maria Steen