Kenya: A protester shouts in front of a burning barricade in a slum area of Nairobi. Kenyan Catholic bishops have announced plans to convene a national dialogue forum in the face of a political crisis
Around the world
Month: November 2017
Boost for Church as research reveals Irish are ‘astonishingly religious’
Greg Daly
Organisers of next year’s World Meeting of Families in Dublin – which Pope Francis is expected to attend – will be buoyed up by new research that reveals that Irish people remain among the most religious in Europe. Despite a fall-off in church attendance, more than one in three Irish Catholics still attend Mass weekly…
Paradise Papers reveal ‘immoral’ tax avoidance as homeless suffer
Chai Brady
Elaborate tax dodging methods used by wealthy Irish people and companies revealed in the Paradise Papers have been condemned by Catholic charity workers who are fighting the homeless crisis. After 13.4 million records were leaked to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung some of Ireland’s wealthiest businessmen and celebrities were linked to valuable assets stashed in offshore…
Forever blowing bubbles
A perfect sunny day as Sr Marie Therese Brosnan delights Caitlin Barry, blowing bubbles with her in the garden of St Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn, Co. Waterford. The picture is contained in a new book, A Year in the Life of Glencairn Abbey, which – through a series of images and words – offers a rare insight…
Tragedies raise profound questions for people of Faith
Michael Kelly
Editor’s Comment When bad things happen to good people – what philosophers and theologians call the problem of evil – is one of the most troubling and persistent questions facing religious believers. How does one reconcile belief in the existence of a God who is all-loving and all-powerful with the reality of evil in…
Married priests may be gaining momentum with synod proposal
The prospect of having married priests is looking more likely, the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) has said, following the Pope having given permission for the issue to be discussed at a synod of bishops. Commenting on reports that the possibility of married men being ordained to the priesthood would be on the agenda of…
Loreto missionary receives O’Flaherty award
Loreto nun Sr Orla Treacy, with a statue of Msgr Hugh O’Flaherty after being awarded the 2017 Hugh O’Flaherty International Humanitarian Award in Killarney over the weekend. Sr Orla is principal of the Loreto school in Rumbek, South Sudan, where she has been a missionary since 2006. Photo:Valerie O’Sullivan
Irish nun’s assault spurs internet wave of support
After an Irish nun’s admission she was spat at by a member of the public last month there’s been an overwhelmingly positive, and supportive response. The nun, who is a former principle of a Catholic school in Dublin, lamented that many people’s attitude towards nuns drastically changed in Ireland after the “horrible” abuse scandals. Her…
Veritas returns to profitability
The publishing wing of the Church in Ireland – has returned to profitability after some turbulent years, according to latest figures filed with the Companies Registration Office. Veritas, the Irish bishops’ publishing arm, has been struggling for years, battling with an uncertain retail climate, but 2016 saw the company making a small net profit of…
Despite NI peace, many Catholics intimidated from homes
Some 10,000 families – the vast majority of them believed to be Catholic – have been intimidated from their homes in the North since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, according to new figures. However, the figures – compiled by the Belfast-based investigative website Detail Data – may be much higher since many incidents…