The Diocese of Clogher plans to engage priests and laity in the coming months in the development of lay-led prayer. Clogher’s Annual General Priests’ Conference in Monaghan, chaired by Diocesan Administrator Msgr Joseph McGuinness, dealt with a variety of organisational matters for diocesan and parish life in the year ahead including lay-led prayer and liturgies…
Last Sunday morning I thought I might have stepped into an alternative reality when the 8am version of It Says in the Papers (RTÉ Radio 1) started as follows: “Winter time is here and the country has a new President.” But hold a while there (as George Hook might say), the news bulletin said we…
The Government should focus on tackling anti-Semitism online following what’s been dubbed as the deadliest rampage against the Jewish community in US history, according to the chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland. “If we look at this particular incident in Pittsburgh, unfortunately people who have these mental aberrations their feelings are given vent…
The Archbishop of Cashel and Emly has said he was alarmed by the “inflammatory language” members of the Travelling community and those on welfare were subjected to during the presidential campaign. In a statement, Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly said that feedback he received from members of the Travelling community and those dependent on financial assistance from…
I do not want to die from some medical condition; I want to die from death! Ivan Illich wrote that. What’s meant here? Don’t we all die from death? Of course, in reality that’s what we all die from, but in our idea of things, most often, we die from a medical condition or from…
The Pope who would be King: The Exile of Pius IX and the Emergence of Modern Europe by David I. Kertzer (Oxford University Press, £25.00) Prof. Kertzer’s earlier books have made a mark. The Pope and Mussolini, for instance, described the settlement that lead to the Lateran Treaty and the accommodation made by the Church with…
Bishop Kevin Doran has accused politicians who voted for abortion of having a “brass neck” to begin Dáil proceedings with a prayer and then vote to end the life of unborn children. Reacting on Facebook to the passage of the first stage of the legislation, Dr Doran wrote “if you want an actual definition of…
The parish system in Ireland has been a vital source of comfort and support in combating loneliness, well-known actor Brendan O’Carroll has said. The Irish star, best recognised for portraying Agnes Brown in the television sitcom Mrs Brown’s Boys, said that Mass historically curbed loneliness as it was a “central place” where people could go…
One of the most remarkable things about Trócaire, according to Seán Farrell, director of the charity’s international division, is its reach. Best known to Irish people as the Irish bishops’ relief and development agency, the organisation is part of the Church’s global relief and development agency Caritas Internationalis, second in scale only to the Red…
The 2016 game Pokémon Go has been downloaded worldwide 800 million times, but a new Catholic version of the game is hoping to persuade potential players to put down the Poké Balls and pick up the prayers. ‘Follow JC Go!’ is a Christian take on the mobile game, but instead of catching Japanese monsters, players…
Chai Brady
Brendan O’Regan
Colm Fitzpatrick
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Peter Costello
Greg Daly