A Late Finding, a novel by Lucy Beckett (Gracewing, £20.00 / €24.00) We seem to live in a time where Catholic culture has passed out of general public discourse, especially in fiction. The days of Fr Benson, Belloc, Chesterton, Waugh, Graham Greene and others are lost in the past. Yet there must be a readership…
There is no place for wellbeing programmes that “deny” the Catholic Church’s unique understanding of humanity in Catholic schools, a major international conference attended by Ireland’s leading educators has heard. Speaking at the Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (GRACE) conference at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Perth last week, Irish theologian Prof. Eamonn…
This week has seen the celebration of Catholic Schools Week in Ireland, which is running from Sunday, January 21st to Saturday, January 27th. Coming around with the unassuming regularity that they do, we often allow all but the biggest annual celebrations to slip us by, but when it comes to celebrating the contribution made by Catholic…
Elizabeth Scalia You have no idea how many of my columns have begun as a germ of a thought – usually an annoyed question – scribbled on a scrap of paper. This one reflects my late, rather curmudgeonly, “wish list” of what I’d like to see happen within Catholicism in 2024. Indulge me, please. Let…
Failure of Catholic college’s dialogue process raises serious questions, writes Ruadhán Jones While most institutions were winding down over Christmas, teachers and staff at Mary Immaculate Catholic college received a bombshell announcement about MIC’s “historic” dialogue with University of Limerick (UL). In an email sent December 19, MIC President Eugene Wall admitted that after almost…
Jacques Delors was sometimes called “the Father of the Euro” – he successfully promoted the single currency (which marks its 25th birthday this year.) This week, President Macron will perform a national ceremony in Paris to honour M. Delors, who died recently aged 98. Influential He was a hugely influential personality as President of the…
Staff at Mary Immaculate College (MIC) have criticised the “long, disquieting” and “opaque” dialogue process with University of Limerick (UL), which has ground to a halt. MIC staff are now questioning if the college is in a weaker position than at the start of the dialogue process. The comments come in response to revelations that…
Campus chaplaincies are growing rapidly across the island of Ireland, hears Ruadhán Jones When Census 2022 came out, the drop in numbers identifying as Catholic came as little surprise. However, when it came to the under 30s there was an unexpected revelation – the majority still identify as Catholic. This reality goes against the grain…
The Church offers us a richer way to celebrate Christmas, writes Amy Welborn For Catholics, great feasts like Christmas don’t come at us out of the blue: In the secular world, ‘Christmas’ seems to start in October! However, our approach to this holiday as Catholics must be different, and it can be. We can put…
Although a time of joyful anticipation and celebration the Christmas period undoubtedly throws up stressful curve balls that for newlyweds, and even veteran married couples, cause tedious petty quarrels – or at worst seething vendettas. Avoiding battles of pride and half-baked principles during the holidays will allow a couple to enter the New Year without…
Peter Costello
Ruadhán Jones
Mary Kenny
Chai Brady