The pastoral centre of the Diocese of Matagalpa in central Nicaragua, whose bishop was in Rome to inform the Pope of the situation in his country, has been attacked by men armed with machetes. The attack occurred last week after two months of protests against Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega which have resulted in violence and…
Asylum seekers need to be properly integrated into society, both at a “psychological and emotional level” a Dublin-based priest has said. The comments come after new Government policy will allow asylum seekers in Direct Provision to work with greater ease and seek their own accommodation. It is understood that around 3,000 people will be eligible…
International Analysis Inés San Martín If ever there’s doubt about where the Church stands on an issue, having the Pope and the majority of a local Catholic hierarchy speaking in unison pretty much resolves it. This is presently the case for Nicaragua, where, once again, Church-backed anti-government protests have ended in bloodshed. “Renewing my…
Life in the Church of Ireland 1600-1800 by Robert Wyse Jackson (Ballinakella Press, €17.50) Robert Marshall Published initially in 1941 under the title Scenes from Irish Clerical Life in the 17th and 18th Centuries, this book was written by a clergyman of the Church of Ireland who had read law at Trinity College Dublin and been called…
Ralph Waldo Emerson calls the stars in the night sky “envoys of beauty, lighting the universe with their astonishing smile” and submits that if they appeared for a single night only every thousand years, we’d be on our knees in worship and would cherish the memory for the rest of our lives. But since they…
WMOF 2018 On a beautiful June summer’s day, like all summer days in West Cork, people from all over the Diocese of Cloyne gathered at the shrine of St Gobnait for a Mass celebrated by the Bishop of Cloyne, Bishop William Crean, as part of the preparations in the diocese for the World Meeting…
The amount that our family uses their phones is getting worse. It’s now affecting our relationships. How can we get back on track to having more phone-free time? Sadly this is not an uncommon issue in our interconnected world. Start off by having a phone-free rule that you implement at certain times. Get a…
WMOF 2018 Jane Mellet On Wednesday June 20, in the Loyola Institute, Trinity College, Dublin, many representatives from ecological groups in Ireland attended a presentation to hear about the World Meeting of Families 2018 ‘Our Common Home’ project. This presentation, which I delivered with Dr Lorna Gold of Trócaire, offered an opportunity for those…
The leader of the DUP must put her words into action in relation to religious sectarianism, or she is simply making “empty gestures”, a Belfast-based priest has said. Fr Gary Donegan C.P., nationally renowned for his ongoing commitment to conflict resolution and peace building in the North of Ireland, said that Arlene Foster needs to…
Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier (Bodley Head, £9.99) Peter Hegarty Author Lanier is a disenchanted idealist, a digital pioneer who once believed that technology would improve our lives. He now associates social media with “nastiness”. People come together in a setting “in which the main – or often the…
Colm Fitzpatrick
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Chai Brady
Wendy Grace