Dear Editor, Having just returned from the youth festival in Medjugorje, which I attended with my 13-year-old daughter, I can honestly say it was a fantastic experience! Over 60,000 young people from over 80 countries attended a five-day festival and clearly demonstrated how alive the Faith was, and is, in this small village in southern…
Caritas volunteer helps in flood rescue mission A 52-year-old Caritas volunteer helped rescue more than two dozen families from a recent flood in Karachi, Pakistan. Francis Javed, a father of six who works as a cobbler, told ucanews.com that he received a phone call from Caritas Pakistan Karachi at 11am on July 30. They warned…
Green Fingers September is the best month for sorting out many of the problems that your lawn has. There is still heat in the ground and it will be a while yet until first frost. This means that your lawn has plenty of time to recover. If you have a lot of moss or…
Catch a film and camp with the family Camping and watching films are both great pastimes, why not do both at an upcoming family friendly event being organised in Wicklow? Éire Óg, Greystones Movie and Camping night is back. This year, the popular family film LEGO 2 will be on the big screen on Saturday,…
A recent phone call from pianist Darina Gibson invited me to a recital in the NCH’s John Field Room being given by RTÉ NSO flautist Sinéad Farrell and herself. As their principally French programme looked enticing I gladly accepted the invitation. The evening began with Bach’s B minor Flute Sonata where the opening Andante found…
Two bills were announced in Wisconsin this week intended to protect victims of child sexual abuse. The Church in the state registered its strong objection to one bill’s intention to force violation of the seal of confession. The Child Victims Act would remove the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse, while the…
Pope Francis has criticised those who give more consideration to money than the Sacraments or helping others find true wealth – a relationship with Jesus Christ. “How many times do I think of this when I see some parishes where it is thought that money is more important than the Sacraments! Please! A poor Church:…
Irish Catholics should anticipate more attacks on their local churches, a Tipperary-based priest has warned after Nazi swastikas were painted on his Catholic oratory. The warning comes on foot of three attacks on churches in the midlands as well as numerous other recent attacks on religious buildings and statues. Fr Michael Toomey told this newspaper…
RTÉ claims it needs it to find a new way to fund broadcasting, because it seems that increasing numbers of people are dodging the licence fee. Thus their plan to incorporate the levy into utility taxation. The present system for collection the licence fee is not efficacious: my own impression is that it is a…
Trócaire has dubbed parishes the “life-blood” of the charity after their annual report shows one of the strongest Christmas campaigns in their history. In their report for 2018/2019 the Church-charity raised €2.3 million during its Christmas appeal, a 10% increase on 2017. This was used to assist families affected by conflict in countries such as…
Paul Gargan
Colm Fitzpatrick
Mary Kenny
Chai Brady