Church teaching holds that only God forgives sins, writes Cathal Barry The Church teaches that sin is, before all else, an offense against God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church refers to sin as “a rupture of communion with him”. “At the same time,” the key teaching document of the Church states, “it damages communion…
This year marks the centenary of perhaps one of the best known churches in the Diocese of Down and Connor – St Mary’s Star of the Sea, Portstewart, Co. Derry. Celebrations to mark this piece of parish history got under way with the launch of a book setting out the story of the seaside church…
Last week in a ceremony in the parish centre in Leighlinbridge, Co. Carlow Bishop Denis Nulty and CofI Bishop Michael Burrows launched the joint diocesan pilgrimage to Echternach, Luxembourg which will take place in June 2017. Both bishops will lead the pilgrimage which will partake in the annual ‘Hopping Procession’ in honour of St Willibrord,…
Pope Francis has called for stronger collaboration between the world’s bishops and the Vatican’s ‘doctrinal watchdog’, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). Addressing the congregation’s plenary assembly, the Pope praised its work in the “delicate task” of “caring for the integrity of the Faith and Tradition”, and encouraged it to continue in…
A local Catholic agency intends to stand by the US city of Flint, Michigan during its public health crisis, the organisation’s president and CEO has said. Vicky Schultz, of the Flint-headquartered Catholic Charities of Shiawassee and Genesee Counties, says the city developed water problems when it stopped purchasing treated Lake Huron water, instead sourcing water…
Europe’s leading human rights body has called ISIS atrocities “genocide”. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has passed a resolution by 117 votes to 1, which included the statement “States should act on the presumption that Da’ish (ISIS) commits genocide”. The resolution “Foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq” condemned recent terrorist acts in…
In spite of the sometimes overwhelming challenges, it is important for religious to retain joy and confidence, writes Andrew O’Connell I’m writing this week’s Notebook from St Mel’s Cathedral in Longford where a hundred or so religious from across the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois have gathered for a conference hosted by Bishop Francis Duffy…
Dear Editor, I am so fed up of hearing people say the Catholic Church needs to get their hands off ‘our schools’, as if the Church has stolen the schools in some sinister way. The Church owns the schools because it built them, or to be more precise the Catholics of the parish built them…
Religious leaders are working hard for peace across the Middle East, writes Paul Keenan “A truly great document. One that will influence our time and history.” If you cannot assign this quote – uttered just last week – to a leading prelate of the Catholic Church, you can hardly be blamed. Similarly, it might be…
Fr Bernard Healy Cebu congress hears that the Eucharist offers something to all cultures, writes Fr Bernard Healy As I leave Cebu after the 51st Eucharistic Congress, I realise that that it was the catechesis given by the irrepressible Cardinal Luis Tagle of Manila that best reflected my experience as an Irish pilgrim here in…
Cathal Barry
Mags Gargan
Paul Keenan