Dear Editor, Your lead story ‘Boost as research reveals Irish are “astonishingly religious”’ (IC 9/11/2017) was a real shot in the arm, especially given the constant moaning and gloating we hear about our Church being in decline. Sure, the picture’s not great – in many ways the European Social Survey figures seem to tell us…
Laois: Kyrle Delaney receives a Benemerenti medal from Fr Sean Maher PP at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Stradbally. Also pictured is former PP Fr Sean Kelly (left).
Dublin: Archbishop Eamon Martin launches the new publication by Dr John O’Keeffe entitled The Masses of Sean and Peadar O’Riada: Explanations in Vernacular Chant, which assesses the achievements of both composers measuring their work against the heritage discipline and compositional principles of western plain chant. Pictured are Archbishop Eamon Martin chatting with Dr O’Keeffe (centre)…
Pat O’Kelly History will be made this weekend with Handel’s Messiah heard for the first time in the Basilica at Knock on Saturday evening. Under Proinnsías Ó Duinn, the occasion commemorates the 275th anniversary of the oratorio’s première in Neal’s Musick Hall in Dublin’s Fishamble Street. The current event unites Our Lady’s Choral Society,…
Notebook Martin Delaney Some years ago while living in the Washington DC area I had an opportunity to visit the Vietnam Memorial Wall. The monument is a long black granite wall with thousands of names of those who lost their lives in the war. As I walked slowly through the memorial site a number…
Hanna Sheehy Skeffington: Suffragette and Sinn Féiner, Her Memoirs and Political Writings by Margaret Ward (University College Dublin Press, €35) Sonja Tiernan The memoirs and political writings of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington is an extensive and valuable collection that makes for a thoroughly engaging read. Publication of this book provides a tremendous primary resource to…
Clare: Bishop Fintan Monahan thanks Gerard Gallagher and Jesse Rogers for “excellent presentations” at the Killaloe Diocesan In-service, also pictured are Maureen Kelly, Ger Nash and Eamon FitzGibbon.
Vatican The existence of nuclear weapons creates a false sense of security that holds international relations hostage and stifles peaceful coexistence, Pope Francis said. “The threat of their use as well as their very possession is to be firmly condemned,” the Pope told participants at a conference on nuclear disarmament hosted by the Vatican. For…
US: A helicopter drops water on a fast moving wildfire in Orange, California. A recent Catholic Climate Covenant webinar explored the connection between global warming and extreme weather events.
India: A woman in Delhi sits amid the rubble of her home destroyed by local authorities in a bid to relocate the residents. Pope Francis will celebrate the Catholic Church’s first World Day of the Poor this Sunday.