While looking forward to the World Meeting of Families (WMOF) and the papal visit later this month, I’ve long had a fear that we could easily mess it up, or have it messed up for us. Mainstream media coverage often reduces the event to issues of child abuse and the Church’s attitude to homosexuality, with…
Youth Space Luke-Peter Silke We’ve seen a lot of criticism of the Catholic School system in the press in recent weeks. Quite a lot of commentators are making presumptions about what goes on in Catholic schools and how students there feel about the Catholic ethos. I’m fresh out of a Catholic School – Holy Rosary…
It was a deep summer’s dusk as the hills of West Cork unfolded before my weary eyes. I was driving home from England for a holiday with my three oldest children, while my wife took some quiet time with the new baby. The girls in the back slept. Seán, sitting in the front, was entranced…
Pat O’Kelly Completing his five-year term at the Kilkenny Arts Festival, Eugene Downes steps down as artistic director later this month. His mantle passes to Olga Barry, currently Festival Producer, whom Downes describes as “a gifted and respected arts leader”. Since his appointment in 2013, Dublin-born Downes has revitalised the festival’s ‘classical’ music element…
There’s a depressing sense of déjà vu in the Church as allegations continue to multiply that the former Archbishop of Washington DC Theodore McCarrick sexually took advantage of young seminarians. Dr McCarrick – who resigned from the College of Cardinals at the weekend – is also accused of two counts of sexual abuse of children.…
The World of Books by the books editor A writer’s words often come back upon him in surprising ways. It is one of the problems of writing anything at all. I learnt this the other day in relation to my own words. The British Newspaper Archive website has recently added a further tranche of Irish…
WMOF 2018 Archbishop Eamon Martin dedicated special Family Stations on the grounds of St Patrick’s Cathedral, created for the upcoming WMOF in Dublin. Parishioners joined the archbishop after the 10am Mass on the Feast of the Dedication of St Patrick’s Cathedral, to dedicate the special Family Stations in preparation for the WMOF. People are…
WMOF 2018 The visit of Pope Francis next month is the largest event in Ireland since John Paul II’s historic trip in 1979, according to Gardaí. Authorities have announced that all public transport in Dublin will be free on Sunday, August 26 when the Pope is due to celebrate Mass before more than 500,000…
The Notebook Fr Bernard Healy Near London’s Marble Arch, at the junction of Bayswater Road and Edgeware Road, there is a triangular traffic island. On the island are planted three oak saplings, and on the ground between them sits a stone plaque that reads ‘The Site of Tyburn Tree’. This marks the spot of…
Hannah Brockhaus When a person puts an object or a philosophy above God, it not only destroys happiness, it hinders the ability to experience real love, Pope Francis said today. “Attachment to an object or an idea makes us blind to love. Carry this in your heart: idols rob us of love, idols make…
Brendan O’Regan
Rory Fitzgerald
Michael Kelly
Peter Costello
Chai Brady