Homily Hints and Prayers: Daily Mass Reading by Silvester O’Flynn (Columba Books, €19.99) In the blurb of this quite large book there is a striking little phrase: “Where there is no priest available, this book would be an invaluable help to any group who gathers to pray with the day’s Mass Reading.” Now this may seem…
Matthew Carlson Family carers in Ireland account for six million unpaid hours of work. This approximates to about €4 billion each year. According to Liam O’Sullivan, executive director of Care Alliance Ireland, their organisation has €10,000 less this year to use for initiatives to reach out to carers, and that more help from the Government…
Chai Brady and Colm Fitzpatrick After shedding their footwear, the rocks can be quite cold on a pilgrim’s feet when they first step out of their bunk-bedded dorms on Station Island, which has been a place of Christian pilgrimage for centuries, but 48 shoeless hours later it becomes convention. Fortunately, the paths and rocks are mainly smooth –…
The Church must discover new ways to provide the Eucharist and pastoral support to the people of the Amazon, especially indigenous people threatened by forced displacement and exploitation, a new document has said. The Vatican released the preparatory document for the special Synod of Bishops on the Amazon on June 8. The synod gathering in…
If the Church tries to be too accommodating of cultural Catholicism, it starts to lack coherence, writes David Quinn In Ireland, most people still seem content to call themselves ‘Catholic’. Census data for 2016 put the figure at 78%. The RTÉ exit poll on the day of the abortion referendum came up with a…
Medical Matters The recent controversy regarding the Cervical Check programme in Ireland has brought into focus the importance of cancer screening programmes. But in particular, it has also emphasised the limitations with interpretation of screening tests and the need for ongoing quality assurance. The Pap smear test was introduced in the 1940’s and is…
The Church in Congo have said emergency measures will remain indefinitely in place in parishes at risk of Ebola, and urged effective action against the disease by the government of President Joseph Kabila. “Although Masses are continuing, sacraments such as Baptism and Confirmation have had to be suspended,” said Msgr Jean-Marie Bomengola, secretary of the…
Anyone who has ever watched a fire knows that at a point the flames subside and disappear into smouldering coals which themselves eventually cool and turn into cold, grey ash. But there’s a moment in that process, before they cool off, that the coals can be stirred so as to make them burst into flame…
Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting by Laura Kelly Fanucci (Veritas, €12.99) Author Laura Fanucci, a hardworking American mother and theologian, places as an epigraph to her little book a saying of St Francis of Assisi: “It was easy to love God in all that was beautiful. The lessons of deeper knowledge, though, instructed me…
Did the Vatican over-rely on the advice of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin on a papal visit to the North, asks Martin O’Brien Why should a Papal visit to the North that enjoyed the enthusiastic support of the Irish and British governments, the Protestant Church leaders, not to mention the Northern bishops to a man, (and…
Peter Costello
David Quinn
Dr Kevin McCarroll
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Martin O'Brien