On 7 September, Bishop Martin Hayes of Kilmore, Episcopal Coordinator for Laudato Si’/Laudate Deum, and a member of the Laudato Si’ Working Group (LSWG) of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, was invited to speak in Kinsale, Co Cork, as part of the current Season of Creation celebrations. In his presentation, Bishop Hayes highlighted the main theme of Laudato Si’,…
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Chaldean bishops ‘firmly reject’ blessing of same-sex unions
The bishops of the Chaldean Synod on July 16 issued a statement declaring their position on the blessing of same-sex unions as well as the necessity of protecting children from sexual abuse. The synod emphasised “the necessity of protecting children from sexual harassment and raising awareness among priests about its dangers”, stressing the importance of…
Ten days of timeless masterpieces
While this may be a time of relaxation when holidays are in full sway, for those involved with the Kilkenny Arts Festival that runs from August 8 to 18, it means a particularly busy period. The principal feature of the 2024 festival will be a short opera and monodrama by Emma O’Halloran, Trade and Mary…
Dungarvan says farewell to Le Bon Sauveur nuns
120 years of history came to an end at Carriglea outside Dungarvan on July 2, when the last nuns at the Le Bon Sauveur said their goodbyes to Dungarvan, the area that they had lived and worked in for 120 years. It was reported that the sister chapel was packed to capacity for a farewell…
Iraq: ‘ISIS tried to eradicate us, but failed’
Ten years after being driven from their homelands by Islamic State (ISIS) militants thousands of Christians have returned to houses in the Nineveh Plains which have now been rebuilt, according to Aid to the Church in Need Ireland. During an online conference organised by the Catholic charity, Nizar Semaan, the Syriac Catholic Archbishop of…
European voters deal blow to Pope’s agenda on migration and climate change
Less than a week after Pope Francis called on people to recognise migrants as “a living image of God’s people on their way to the eternal homeland,” voters across Europe dealt a potentially serious blow to that vision by rewarding far-right, anti-immigrant parties in elections for the European parliament. While mainstream, pro-EU forces are still…
TG4 explores the holy wells of Ireland
The Irish-language broadcaster TG4 is set to dive into the history, myths and legends associated with Ireland’s holy wells in a six-part documentary series. In Ag Triall ar an Tobar, presenter Manchán Magan will uncover holy wells that have been sites of worship and prayer for centuries and are still visited today for those seeking…
Report: ‘Nones’ now largest religious category in US
Religiously unaffiliated people, often referred to as “nones,” now make up the largest religious category in the US, according to a new report by the Pew Research Centre. Pew’s new report, released January 24, shows that nones now account for 28% of the total US population, outstripping the next largest group, Catholics, who make up 20%.…
Irish-African leaders have ‘common bond’ due to missionaries
Leaders of African nations have a “common bond” with Ireland due to the work of Irish missionaries, the Dáil has heard. There are leaders “all over Africa” who have been educated by Irish missionaries, which builds a “common bond that is really important”, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade and Defence was…
Cardinal Sako warns against Christian migration from Iraq
Erbil (KNA) Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako has criticised the failure of Iraqi politics to protect the country’s citizens and in particular its Christian minority. “The state of instability and lack of justice has once again fuelled the flow of migration,” lamented the patriarch of Iraq’s numerically largest church, the Chaldean Church, in an article published…