The Department of Foreign Affairs will not contact the Vatican regarding their decision whether to allow the Sisters of Charity to sell Church-owned land to the Government, earmarked for the new National Maternity Hospital. Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney was asked in the Dáil last week by Róisín Shortall TD whether his…
Francis talks peace, poverty and prayer during historic visit to Thailand and Japan, writes Colm Fitzpatrick This month marked 25 years since a Pope has visited Thailand, with Francis embarking on an Asia tour which saw him venture to the former kingdom of Siam – the same place that St John Paul journeyed to in…
For Christians, training in mindfulness has the potential to create the space which ultimately holds the capacity for full communion with God, writes Sr Stanislaus Kennedy RSC I welcome the publication A Reflection on Mindfulness – Rediscovering the Christian Tradition of Meditation and Contemplation by the bishops’ conference. It supports mindfulness and recognises that mindfulness,…
The Globalist: Peter Sutherland – his Life and Legacy by John Walsh (HarperCollins, £20.00) Garrett Sheehan This review comes with a caveat: the writer was a classmate and friend of the late Peter Sutherland. That said this is a carefully researched, well organized and superbly written first biography in which the author John Walsh…
Everyone procrastinates but it can become a problem when it takes over our lives, writes Colm Fitzpatrick There’s washing to be ironed, bills to be paid and that murder-mystery novel you’ve always wanted to write (but never found the time). With all the tasks that need to be completed in your life, it’s hard…
A Parent’s Perspective I have a daughter who is 13 years old, a year younger than Ana Kriegel was when she was cruelly murdered. The early teenage years should be lovely, carefree happy years, those precious years between childhood and adulthood. My mother used to love an old Val Doonican song titled ‘The Special…
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín TD this week submited the Protection of Children (Online Pornographic Material) Bill 2019 to the Dáil. This Bill aims to make the online provision of pornography to children illegal. According to Mr Tóibín: “The proliferation of pornography in just the last few years in Ireland has been immense. “Today eight and…
The Salamanca Diaries: Father McCabe and the Spanish Civil War by Tim Fanning (Merrion Press, €19.95) Joe Carroll For over 300 years, Irish priests who trained in Salamanca brought back traces of Spanish culture to parishes the length and breadth of Ireland. There are references in Patrick Kavanagh’s Tarry Flynn to the parish priest…
Calls made for arrest of bishop accused of abuse A criminal prosecutor in Argentina has requested the arrest of Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, who is accused of sexually abusing two seminarians. Bishop Zanchetta is suspended from a position at the Vatican’s central bank, where he was appointed an ‘assessor’ by Pope Francis in 2017. He is…
Bro. Richard Hendrick OFM Cap. Mindfulness is the buzzword of the moment. It seems to be everywhere. From psychology to education, from psychotherapy to the worlds of business and management, the ‘mindful way of doing things’ is the prescribed way of achieving success and the conduit by which all of these disparate disciplines hope…
Chai Brady
Colm Fitzpatrick
Maria Byrne