RTÉ star Miriam O’Callaghan has said she regularly lights a candle in her local church on the way home from her morning radio show, and prays often to the Virgin Mary. In an interview in the Sunday Independent published over the weekend Ms O’Callaghan said she didn’t always have the habit of lighting a candle,…
The chief Paris prosecutor and the French capital’s archbishop have struck an agreement allowing faster investigations into alleged sexual abuse by clergy. Last Thursday’s accord came as more people in France are coming forward about past sexual wrongdoing by priests, and after repeated scandals pushed the French Catholic Church to step up efforts to address…
Modern-day palliative care approaches and hospices have made it such that uncontrolled symptoms at the time of death are rare, writes Chris Garrett Caesar Augustus died peacefully at the age of 75 in the arms of his third wife Livia; unusual for that time given the bloody and traumatic deaths of some other Roman…
The Brigidine Sisters in Ireland, America, Australia and New Zealand, 1807 – 1922 by Ann Power (Four Courts Press, €60.00) In this comprehensive study Dr Ann Power discusses all aspects of the lives and ministry of the Brigidine nuns and in doing so tells us a great deal about the making of modern Ireland. Bishop Daniel…
A German nun known as ‘Pakistan’s Mother Teresa’ has been honoured by Google with a ‘Google Doodle’ on what would have been her 90th birthday. Sr Ruth Pfau, who died in 2017, is credited with eradicating leprosy from Pakistan. Born in Leipzig in 1929, she converted to Catholicism in her 20s and was inspired to…
Beard Theology: A holy history of hairy faces, told by the Church Mouse illustrated by Dave Walker (Hodder & Stoughton, £12.99) We now live (at least in some Western countries) in an age of beards, if the five day stubble so many sport can be called beards. These unshaven faces are derided by others as mere…
With a month to go before the start of the Synod of Bishops for Amazon, retired Bishop Erwin Krautler of Xingu said the Brazilian government should not fear the discussions to be held in Rome. “The synod is for and by the bishops. Discussions will involve Church issues, not sovereign state issues,” Bishop Krautler said…
Drum roll for Drumlin county While Monaghan is often overlooked as an Irish holiday destination, the Drumlin county is worth exploring especially with the Taste of Monaghan event approaching on September 28. This year, the festival, which celebrates local food, arts and culture, will be free to visitors and will have the largest collection of…
Long-time Vatican official dies age 96 Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, a long-time Vatican official and papal envoy who was sent to some of the world’s most wounded and challenging places, died in France on September 4. He was 96. The French cardinal also played key roles in ecumenical relations, including with the late Orthodox Patriarch Alexy…
Mainly About Books by the books editor At the beginning of the month the Brexit controversy took a surprising literary turn, which is worth a few considerations. Prime Minster Alexander Boris Pfeffell Johnson began it. (It is a sign of the sad times we live in that the mere use of a politician’s full…
Peter Costello