The Belgian spiritual writer, Bieke Vandekerckhove, comes by her wisdom honestly. She didn’t learn what she shares from a book or even primarily from the good example of others. She learned what she shares through the crucible of a unique suffering, being hit at the tender age of 19 with a terminal disease that promised…
Mags Gargan speaks to people involved in the weekly family Mass in St Aidan’s parish in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford Offering a weekly family Mass is a great opportunity for parishes to create an atmosphere where families feel part of the community of faith, especially children, who by participating in the ceremony gain a fuller understanding…
Christmas is over and the new year is here yet it’s not too late or even too early to make decorations for next Christmas. During the Christmas holidays, it can be easy to forget to make New Year’s resolutions when you are caught up in all of the festivities. Making your resolutions early in January…
Prof. William Reville The average British life expectancy at birth in 1900 was 50 years, today it is 81 years. Much of this improvement can be attributed to modern scientific medicine and in particular to the introduction of antibiotics. Many bacterial infections such as septicemia and puerperal fever that killed so many people historically can…
The start of 2016 sees our family engaged in an Irish tradition: emigrating. Work has brought our family to live in England for a spell. The past few months have been a flurry of paperwork, transit vans, goodbyes and house-hunting. We now find ourselves in an idyllic rural corner of England that often feels like…
Not long after reports about the dangers of eating processed meats died down had the media provided further cause for concern. New research apparently found that a typical Indian takeaway meal of a starter, main course and pilau rice can contain far more calories than an adult’s total daily requirements. The study of 280 Indian…
Transition Year students from Tuam describe a project to create a green space for their school We chose ‘The Power of Women’ as our theme for Transition Year 2015/2016. This theme was reflected in all our projects and assignments. In the ‘Build a Bank Challenge’ we introduced students to an influential woman every week. We selected these…
The poor, they say, we will always have with us. And it seems we’ll always have Rocky Balboa with us as well. How many incarnations has Sylvester Stallone’s ever-resilient pugilist had since his first appearance on our screens in 1976? In Creed he plays the mentor of a boxer called Apollo Creed whose father died…
EXCLUSIVE ‘Delight’ at funding from Hilton Hotel fortune Efforts to promote vocations to religious life in Ireland will move up a gear in 2016 thanks to a generous grant from a US-based foundation set up by hotel billionaire Conrad Hilton, The Irish Catholic can reveal. Vocations Ireland, an umbrella organisation which helps religious orders to…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Mags Gargan
Erin Fox
Rory Fitzgerald
Cathal Barry
Aubrey Malone