The Sunday Gospel Today’s Gospel (Mark 10: 2-16) is first of all about the sanctity of marriage between husband and wife, and then about the touch of God on their children. The background is a trick question about divorce in an attempt to trap Jesus. “Is it against the law for a man to divorce…
Minority pupils more likely to have negative school experience Pupils from Muslim minority backgrounds are more likely to have a negative relationship with their teacher, new research from Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) shows. The study, lasting three years and involving more than 3,000 students, showed that 94.5% of majority students experienced positive or moderately positive…
The cooler weather will soon enough be instilling a chill in our bones, but there’s no reason why we can’t strengthen them before then, writes Jason Osborne Brittle bones, or ‘osteoporosis’, is the most common bone disorder to occur. It’s most common in older, post-menopausal females, but it can affect adults of any age or…
Medical Matters Every year in Ireland, there are approximately 2,500 out of hospital cardiac arrests, with a rising proportion of cases that occur outside the home having CPR performed by bystanders. The cardiac arrest of the Danish footballer Christian Eriksen on live television has highlighted the importance and success of rapid CPR and defibrillation. Indeed,…
Personal Profile For some young people, and their parents, there can be a fear when the time comes for them to leave home and head to college. However, as Gerard Scullion learned during his time at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), being a person of Faith and a student need not be an antagonistic relationship. Mr…
Laudato Si’ The Season of Creation continues through September up until October 4 (the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology). This year many parishes are engaging in prayer, reflection and action, growing in deeper awareness of what it means to protect our common home. I was delighted to read Archbishop…
We need to pray even when that seems the most lifeless thing to do. That’s a counsel from Michael J. Buckley with which we need to challenge ourselves daily. In the face of real life, prayer can often seem like the most lifeless thing to do. What difference does prayer make? I will pray for…
Can the tooth fairy get Covid? That was the perplexing question I had to ask myself, when my 7-year-old Covid patient lost a tooth. She and I recently spent 10 days isolating in the apartment at the side of our house, to protect the rest of the family. It was strange to spend all day…
The Sunday Gospel The Sunday Gospels these weeks are about Jesus on the way to Calvary and how his followers are to take up their crosses also. Today’s reading (Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48) is a challenge to be Christian not only in name but also in the way we live. Do I belong to Christ…
Outcry as 1,400 dolphins killed in Faroe Islands hunt The government of the Faroe Islands, an autonomous Danish territory, is facing an outcry over the culling of more than 1,400 white-sided dolphins in a day, in what was said to be the single biggest hunt in the northern archipelago. “There is no doubt that the…
Dr Kevin McCarroll
Ruadhán Jones
Fr Ronald Rolheiser