Whoever said it was too late to send Christmas cards, forgot that Christmas doesn’t end until the feast of the Epiphany or the Three Wise Men on January 6th. Little Christmas is surrounded with tradition. As the official last day of Christmas, the tree is taken down, and the decorations are stored away for next…
Month: January 2017
Watching out for a silent threat
Prostate cancer, a once largely silent disease that was often diagnosed in its more advanced stages has become increasingly identified and treated at an earlier phase in men today. A greater awareness of disease symptoms coupled with improvements in detection and diagnosis, as well as treatment options has led to a huge benefit in survival…
Lessons in the faith
Fr Bryan Shortall Christian faith can rest with the youngest and oldest among us, Fr Bryan Shortall explains. Talk about ‘out of the mouths of babes’. I was over with some parishioners who had been recently bereaved and we were to plan the funeral liturgy. Naturally there was sadness in the household as they were…
Favourite books of 2016
So much of life, particularly today, constitutes an unconscious conspiracy against reading. Lack of time, the pressure of our jobs, and electronic technology, among other things, are more and more putting books out of reach and out of mind. There is never enough time to read. The upside of this is that when I do…
Back from the seminary – and convent – to the nation’s service
Secret of the powers that be This year saw the release of a backlog of files of various kinds going back to the 1920s. Many dealt with dismissals from the public service, the army, the guards, and the civil service generally. Most of these reveal little stories of incompetence and misbehaviour as often as not…
The chancy survival of early Christian relics in Ireland
Secrets of the powers of that be Visitors to the national Museum are often astonished by the relics of early Christian Ireland that are on show there, from the Derrynaflan hoard and the Broighter boat, to the Ardagh Chalice and the Cross of Cong. But what many do not realise are the hazards of survival…
“Fighting for Ireland’s freedom drove me mad”, claimed convicted murderer
Echoes of the past from the archives That the events across Europe between 1912 and 1924 damaged the minds of a generation of European is widely accepted by historians. The “”shell shock” and “neurasthenia” suffered by those who fought on all sides is well documented. The troubles politics and social life of the 1920 and…
New Dáil motion will include plight of persecuted Christians
Move comes after criticism of earlier ‘outrageous’ motion The Dáil is set to debate a full motion condemning the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, The Irish Catholic has learned. Just weeks after the failure of politicians to include Christians in a motion attacking the treatment of Iraq’s Yazidi minority by so-called Islamic…