Returning to school is one of the biggest changes in your child’s life, writes Davis Clark   As summer break draws to a close, it’s time to pull our attention away from the beach and focus on a very important event: the first day of school. Starting a new school year can be both a…

Personal Profile Matthew Carlson learns about the intricacies of parish life   Born in England, Glen Phillips says that there were two things that were enforced in his house growing up: soccer and Faith. “I grew up going to Mass. Growing up in our house there were two things, being Catholic and supporting Manchester United,”…

Obsessing about how we look is extremely destructive, writes Davis Clark   Our constant presence in the digital world leaves us open to the bombardments of advertising, and because we unconsciously, whether by nature or nurture, compare ourselves to those around us, it would seem especially cruel that unreachable and often fabricated ideals are constantly…

WMOF2018 Brenda Drumm   A new series of digital animations and a six-part television series has been launched as part of ongoing preparations for the World Meeting of Families 2018 and the visit of Pope Francis. Both of these new resources focus on Amoris Laetitia, the document written by Pope Francis on love in the family.…

Youth Space Luke-Peter
 Silke   We’ve seen a lot of criticism of the Catholic School system in the press in recent weeks. Quite a lot of commentators are making presumptions about what goes on in Catholic schools and how students there feel about the Catholic ethos. I’m fresh out of a Catholic School – Holy Rosary…

Colm Fitzpatrick explores the power of 
home care   The benefits of getting older are manifold and range from having more space for leisure to spending more time with family, but like any process, ageing is often accompanied with some crucial and difficult problems. One of the most common complications about getting older is an…

Personal Profile Davis Clark speaks with a Loreto nun breaking all barriers   Visual impairment is certainly a challenge, but for someone like Sr Bríd Smith, challenges are simply opportunities for growth. “That’s one thing visual impairment has taught me: the goodness in people”, she says. Even with her failing eyesight, she truly feels that…

Matthew Carlson writes about the fight against tobacco companies   Tobacco companies are known to target children and young people to create new waves of smoking addicts, but new laws being implemented this September aim to fight back against these callous forms of advertising. Plain packaging legislation will come into force this autumn, under the…

WMOF 2018   In an exciting new development An Post will release two brand new stamps to commemorate the Pope visiting Ireland in August. One of the stamps shows Pope Francis with a dove and the other depicts a family walking together on a beach. The stamps cost €1 and €1.50 respectively. They are featured…

Personal Profile Matthew Carlson speaks with a lay catechist   Although many people may think that their grandparent is the most religious grandparent out there, Colette Furlong may be able to take that award home. Colette, who is the Catechist for the cluster of parishes in Sligo recalls that as a child, her ‘nanna’ was…