Jews in France are leading a new exodus, writes Paul Keenan When one speaks of ‘mass migration’ in Europe, it is a near certainty that the term prompts visions of desperate Syrians moving into the continent via its open southern shores. Yet, today, there is another dramatic wave of migration taking place, less noted, but…
Dear Editor, I write in response to your article in last week’s paper (IC 21//01/2016) which suggests that the Archdiocese of Dublin could face a 70% drop in the number of its priests by the year 2030. The research paper concludes that the optimal solution to the priest shortage in the diocese “is probably a…
The Church teaches that daily conversion and penance find their source and nourishment in the Eucharist, writes Cathal Barry The Church teaches that Jesus’ call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before him, does not aim first at outward works, fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion.…
What is the real root of human loneliness? A flaw within our make-up? Inadequacy and sin? Or, does Augustine’s famous line, you have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you, say it all? Augustine’s adage, for all its merit, is not quite enough. We are infinite souls…
“Alpha fills you with a sense of belonging and changes you through the power of the Holy Spirit”, writes John Quinn I began working with the Presentation Brothers in September 2015, taking up my appointment as their Evangelisation Officer. After four years of working as a youth minister in a busy South-London parish, I was…
There’s no doubt that the report on the Archdiocese of Dublin showing a dramatic decline in the number of priests and the number of Catholics attending Mass regularly makes for sobering reading. Over the past number of years, The Irish Catholic has published several similar statistical analyses and projections – the findings have all been…
In the winter of 2009 I made a retreat in Craig Lodge, a house of prayer in the Highlands of Scotland. As we journeyed up through the highlands we were listening to a CD I had brought for the journey, Harmony by The Priests. We were listening to the words of the Te Deum and…
At the end of every Roman Catholic liturgy, there is an invitation given to the people to receive a blessing. That invitation is worded this way: “Bow your heads and pray for God’s blessing.” The idea behind that, obviously, is that a blessing can only truly be received in reverence, in humility, with head bowed,…
Dear Editor, The statistics in the report in last week’s paper (IC 14/01/2016) about the rise in persecution of Christians made for some scary reading. Sometimes Catholics here in Ireland talk about being under attack or being persecuted by the secular culture around us. While it is fair to say our media, our Government and…
The Church teaches that Christ’s call to conversion ultimately continues to resound in the lives of Christians, writes Cathal Barry
Paul Keenan
Cathal Barry
Fr Ronald Rolheiser