“Cuir tús leis an chomhrá i nGaeilge”, that is the statement on one of the large posters I have just designed to go up around Letterkenny, “Start the conversation in Irish”. Before Christmas I began in my new role as Comhordaitheoir Pleanála Teanga or Irish Language Development Coordinator for Letterkenny. Apart from the fact that…
Personal Profile The pandemic and lockdown have brought out many skills in lay volunteers and religious previously dormant. For some, however, it was an opportunity to build on skills they already used. Fr Eamon Roche, a former computer programmer and one of the developers of Cloyne Diocese Bl. Carlo Acutis online project, fits into the…
How do we search for God? It is easy to misunderstand what that means. We are forever searching for God, though mostly without knowing it. Usually, we think of our search for God as a conscious religious search, as something we do out of a spiritual side of ourselves. We tend to think of things…
Sweet Treats Macarons have a reputation for being tricky but don’t fear! If you follow the recipe carefully these red velvet flavoured versions will make an impressive gift this Valentine’s day. A top tip is throughout the recipe, make sure that all the ingredients are at room temperature. Ingredients Makes about 12 filled macarons For…
‘Time is running out’ to save sharks and rays The BBC reported that sharks and rays are disappearing from the world’s oceans at an “alarming rate”. A new study suggests that the number of sharks found in open ocean has dropped by up to 71% over 50 years, with three quarters of the species studied…
Writing letters, stories or poetry are widely unpractised skills with transformative potential writes Jason Osborne Last week I wrote about chess as a fun and potentially endless way to while away lockdown during these dark and dreary days. For those that didn’t appeal to, there’s another activity to consider as a coping mechanism during these…
A Parent’s Perspective I was speaking to a young Catholic father recently about the difficulties and challenges he faces in trying to pass on the Faith to his four young children. He was feeling a bit overwhelmed and ill-equipped for the job, wondering how he could be more proactive and involved. He’s feeling the increasing pressure…
Personal Profile For those outside the Faith, the idea that confession may draw you into Catholicism will seem counter intuitive – let alone that it can be joyful or freeing. But that’s just what it was for Anita Sheahan, who now does faith outreach for St Mary’s Dominicans in Cork. Though she grew up in…
This has been the longest January in recorded history. The month began about ten years ago, as I watched as Big Ben ominously ticked down the seconds to 2021 with my wife and our two oldest kids. Instead of our usual cheerful New Year’s gathering of friends and family, it was just the four of…
Lying is the most pernicious of evils, the most dangerous of sins, the worst of blasphemes, and the one sin that can be unforgivable. Perhaps we need to be reminded of that today, given our present culture where we are in danger of losing the very idea of reality and truth. Nothing is more dangerous.…
Bairbre Cahill
Ruadhán Jones
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Maria Byrne