Coronavirus: Bat scientists find new evidence The BBC reported that coronaviruses related to Sars-CoV-2 may be circulating in bats across many parts of Asia. Scientists have discovered a virus that is a close match to the virus that causes Covid-19 in bats at a sanctuary in Thailand. They predict that similar coronaviruses may be present…
Restrictions may make romance more difficult, but it’s certainly not impossible, writes Jason Osborne Last year’s St Valentine’s Day probably would have been a little more ostentatious if we’d known the kind of year we were in for. Perhaps we’d have made an effort to go on a trip we’d always wanted to, somewhere suitably…
Living Laudato Si’ Our New Year resolutions this year may simply have been to get through lockdown as best we can. And that’s ok! Pope Francis does gives us a nudge however, in the address he gave on the World Day of Peace, January 1. He asks us to focus on one thing, to create…
Personal Profile The Philippines has one of the largest Catholic populations in the world – a country of more than 100 million people, of which 80% are Catholic and 90% are Christian. This is the legacy of missionaries from the 1500s down to today – missionaries such as Fr Donal Bennett of Omagh, who spent…
Medical Matters The year of 2021 has already been marked by more than 100,000 new Covid cases and tragically over 1000 deaths, just at a time when we looked forward in hope after the arrival of new vaccines. The emergence of new viral strains which are up to 70% more transmissible coupled with increased social…
A colleague once challenged Pierre Teilhard de Chardin with this question. You believe that good will ultimately triumph over evil; well, what if we blow up the world with an atomic bomb, what happens to goodness then? Teilhard answered this way. If we blow up the world with an atomic bomb, that would be a…
Parents often protect their children from worry, through the simple expedient of not telling them about worrying things. There’s certainly no need to worry small children about crimes such as murder, for example. Yet we do tell them about dangers of traffic, as the worrying knowledge that cars can hurt of kill you encourages them…
Alcohol deaths hit record high during pandemic The BBC reported that deaths caused by alcohol hit a record high during the first nine months of 2020, according to provisional figures from England and Wales. Between January and September, 5,460 deaths were registered with this cause of death, which is up 16% on the same months…
Our physical isolation is no excuse for failing to grow in faith, writes Jason Osborne With the latest announcement from the Government confirming total lockdown until at least March 5 it is finally setting in, at least for me, that we’re not getting back to normal any time soon. That fact probably evokes a range of emotions…
Mindful Living Prior to Advent we had been exploring the depth of meaning in the John Main prayer which we say before meditation. The second sentence of the prayer asks God to: ‘Lead us into that mysterious silence where your love is revealed to all who call.’ In this article I want to reflect on…
Ruadhán Jones
Dr Kevin McCarroll
Fr Ronald Rolheiser