The virtue of justice is fundamental for peaceful coexistence, writes Pope Francis Here we are at the second of the cardinal virtues: today we will talk about justice. It is the quintessential social virtue. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines it as “the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will…
Jaymie Stuart Wolfe “We are an Easter people and ‘alleluia’ is our song.” We love to quote St Augustine when we talk about what the church of Jesus Christ is. And honestly, there may be no better description. But I think a lot of us, somewhere along the line, have lost hope that…
Dear Editor, I was heartened by Bishop Kevin Doran’s recent remarks in the article about the changing cultural landscape and its impact on our Faith [The Irish Catholic – April 4, 2024]. His call to focus on the fundamentals of our beliefs and the support offered by the Church is more important than ever as…
A proclamation from the nation’s second Catholic president on a transgender-themed occasion is causing consternation among some faithful, as the date coincides this year with Easter – and as the annual White House Easter egg art contest bans, among other things, religious symbolism. On March 29, President Joe Biden issued his annual message for the…
Ireland has regressed when it comes to disability rights, writes Dualta Roughneen The right to health is a fundamental part of human rights and of an understanding of a life with dignity. It is not new. Internationally, it was first articulated in the 1946 Constitution of the World Health Organisation (WHO), whose preamble defines…
Anto Akkara A watchdog group that monitors violence committed against Christians in India has released a study documenting 161 such crimes in the first 75 days of 2024. These numbers may underestimate the number of crimes and acts of persecution committed against Christians in India, according to AC Michael, a Catholic and coordinator of…
Carl E. Olson The Norwegian bishop and Trappist monk Erik Varden, still shy of 50, has established himself as a spiritual writer, retreat leader and prelate of the highest order. Raised in a non-practicing Lutheran home in a village in Norway, he was a teenage “agnostic” who was “hostile” to Christianity. His conversion to the…
Greg Erlandson This year, I’m glad to see Lent come to an end, and not just because of Easter Alleluias and Cadbury dark chocolate eggs. It was a tough Lent. Part of it, of course, had nothing explicitly to do with Lent. The news has generally been dreadful, a reminder, I suppose of why…
Anthony Gaughan This is a comprehensive account of the All-Ireland Senior Football finals from 1928 to 1977. On each occasion the teams competed for the Sam Maguire Cup. Sam Maguire, to whom the cup was dedicated, was born in Dunmanway, Co Cork, on March 1 1877. He migrated to London where he found employment in…
Theo McDonald The Covid-19 pandemic left many victims in its wake. The scale of the pathogens’ spread led policy makers to implement some of the most stringent and far-reaching restrictions on everyday life. Individuals were prevented from travelling beyond a certain radius of their home with several thousand businesses and other public venues shuttered or…
