The Church teaches that Confession to a priest is an essential part of the Sacrament of Penance, writes Cathal Barry The Church teaches that penance requires the sinner to “endure all things willingly, be contrite of heart, confess with the lips, and practice complete humility and fruitful satisfaction” Among the penitent’s acts contrition occupies first…

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…

Politicians need to address issues around our ageing society, writes Finola Kennedy Finola Kennedy The final comment of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry went largely unreported. He referred to the difficulty of providing resources for “the ageing of Irish society”. He went on to say: “I hope the issue isn’t lost.”…