It is not good enough to simply say ‘Islam is a religion of peace’, writes David Quinn Is Islam really a ‘religion of peace’ as some of its defenders insist? So many acts of terrorism today are being carried out by followers of Islam. Yes, they are extremists. Yes, their version of Islam may be…

Mags Gargan examines the complex relationship between faith and gender New research shows that globally women, especially among Christians, are generally more religiously devout than men. These findings will come as no real surprise to anyone who has looked across the pews during Mass on any given Sunday in Ireland and seen the obvious gender…

So-called Islamist groups commit atrocities with a false allegiance to Islam, writes Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri Last week the world has seen the cities of Brussels, Baghdad and Lahore rocked by a series of suicide bomb attacks that targeted the Belgian airport and metro station, an Iraqi football stadium and a Pakistani family park. These attacks…

The Easter season has a lot to offer the Church in Ireland today I rarely experience the kind of exhaustion that I experienced on Easter Sunday evening and on Easter Monday. Holy Week – particularly the days of the Triduum from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday – is a time of unparalleled intensity in the…

We must remember, “our bodies, yours and mine, at the final judgement, will be raised from the dead and reunited with our souls”, writes Andrew O’Connell The Paschal Triduum, culminating in the Exsultet at the Easter Vigil, is a beautiful and profound spiritual experience. At its heart is the stunning reality of the Resurrection of…

The stone which rolled away from the tomb of Jesus continues to roll away from every sort of grave. Goodness cannot be held, captured or put to death. It evades its pursuers, escapes capture, slips away, hides out, even leaves the churches sometimes, but forever rises, again and again, all over the world. Such is…

Holy Orders is the sacrament of apostolic ministry, writes Cathal Barry Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. As such, the Church teaches that “it is the…