Colm Fitzpatrick explores the price of Irish funerals and how to curb the costs Everyone has heard the expression that “nothing in life is free”, but as it turns out, even death can be a pricey affair. With the costs of some funerals toppling into the tens of thousands, it’s no wonder that life expectancy…
Catholic schools have a responsibility to empower pupils with the confidence to get involved in climate action, according to a Dublin teacher involved in an upcoming ‘climate strike’. Thousands of children across Ireland will be skipping school on Friday, March 15, as part of a global day of action pressuring governments to act against climate…
Chai Brady focuses on the challenges of eating disorders Body image is a huge issue for many, especially with the concept of a ‘perfect’ body being perpetuated in much social media which nowadays permeates everyone’s reality, but that may be a small, even non-existent factor in the reasons someone develops an eating disorder. A…
Chai Brady discusses addiction, mental health, evil spirits and exorcism with Fr Pat Collins “Who do you think you are, do you think you have any control over me?” Those were the demonic words spoken by a woman in a “gruff raspy voice” alien to her normal inflection, according to Ireland’s most renowned exorcist when he had started praying to expel an evil spirit from her body. Fr…
I’ve been both blessed and cursed by a congenital restlessness that hasn’t always made my life easy. I remember as a young boy restlessly wandering the house, the yard, and then the open pastures of my family’s farm on the prairies. Our family was close, my life was protected and secure and I was raised…
Thomas Cromwell: A Life by Diarmaid MacCulloch (Allen Lane, €35) Robert Marshall “The evil that men do lives after them, / the good is oft interred with their bones…’ This apposite quotation from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar comes to mind when reflecting on this magisterial book written by Diarmaid MacCulloch about the life of Thomas Cromwell (1485 c.-1540). MacCulloch is professor…
Mindful Living Dr Noel Keating Meditation is the practice of being still in body and mind. When practiced from a secular perspective – for example, in the world of medicine – the intention is often focused on practical benefits for the individual who has taken up the practice. Meditation is enormously beneficial and, over…
Filmmakers of a new movie which depicts the reality of abortion in America have expressed outrage over the decision that it be R-rated. Anti-abortion movie, Unplanned, which is set for a March 29 release received an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). This would be the first R-rated movie from distributor Pure…
Pope Francis has offered his solidarity and prayers to victims of a massive fire in the centre of the Bangladeshi capital, which has reportedly claimed well over 70 lives, at time of writing. “His Holiness Pope Francis was saddened to learn of the loss of life and of the injuries caused by the conflagration in the…
Christian communities and the theology of bearing witness may help those struggling with eating disorders, an Irish academic has said. With Eating Disorder Awareness Week taking place from February 25 to March 3, Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics in Trinity’s Loyola Institute Jacob Erickson said: “Quite oftentimes with eating disorders there’s so much stigma and…
Colm Fitzpatrick
Chai Brady
Fr Ronald Rolheiser