You know it was a scintillating papal press conference when, in reply to a question about Donald Trump, the Pontiff described the GOP candidate’s stance on immigration as “not Christian”, and arguably it wasn’t even the most important thing the Pope said. In the same news conference, Francis suggested he’s open to the idea of…

One small community has weathered Syria’s war, writes Paul Keenan Among the many hundreds of thousands who have died in the brutal struggle for control of Syria, the loss of Maronite Deacon Benjamin Camille, killed in 2013 as he worked in a Damascus suburb, is no less tragic and, at first glance, no more notable…

The Church teaches that reconciliation with God is the purpose and effect of the sacrament, writes Cathal Barry The whole power of the Sacrament of Penance, according to the Church, consists in restoring the faithful to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship. Reconciliation with God, the Church teaches, is thus…

Several years ago, while teaching a summer course at Seattle University, I had as one of my students a woman who, while happily married, was unable to conceive a child. She had no illusions about what this meant for her. It bothered her a great deal. She found Mother’s Day very difficult. Among other things,…

“there does appear to be something in Catholicism in America that is not present in many Irish parishes”, writes Michael Kelly I’m writing from the United States where I am attending the Religious Education Congress of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Irish Catholics who attend Mass in the US often return with memories of the…

Certain social values which are not in any way negotiable…truth, freedom, justice and love, writes Nuala O’Loan As you contemplate the election, you may have very mixed feelings. The last ten years have not been great for Ireland. Unemployment rates rose to over 14%. Tens of thousands of people had to leave Ireland to get…

The Church teaches that the forgiveness of sins brings reconciliation, writes Cathal Barry The Church teaches that since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of Reconciliation, bishops who are their successors, and priests, the bishops’ collaborators, “continue to exercise this ministry”. “Indeed bishops and priests, by virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, have…

A return of the Fine Gael-Labour coalition will further damage traditional values, writes David Quinn The social liberalism of the outgoing Government cannot be exaggerated. The same is likely to be true of the incoming Government, unless it is a Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil coalition, and even then it will be only somewhat less liberal. When…

Many of us, I am sure, have been inspired by the movie Of Gods and Men, which tells the story of a group of Trappist monks who, after making a painful decision not to flee from the violence in Algeria in the 1990s, are eventually martyred by Islamic extremists in 1996. Recently, I was much…