What is socially responsible or ethical investing? Róise McGagh writes how the ordinary person can drive change The environment has been a topic that has really been heating up over the last couple of years. Protecting the planet is a value that many hold dear, including Pope Francis. LaudatoSí’ outlines the importance of the…
River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey Sister Helen Prejean (Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99) Helen Prejean is the well known author of that massive success as book, film, and even opera, Dead Man Walking (1993). She is one of the most powerful advocates for the abolition of the death penalty, not just in the US, but…
Covid-19: The Faithful respond A community of contemplative nuns, the Sisters of Mary Morning Star, who came to live in Waterford in January last year have set up a new prayer initiative called ‘Dial a Prayer’. The sisters want to bring the intentions, thoughts and prayers of people in the Diocese of Waterford and…
Public Masses across England, Wales and Scotland have been suspended indefinitely amid the coronavirus outbreak. The bishops’ conference of England and Wales announced last week that, as of March 20, there will be no public acts of worship. However, they said that churches would remain open for private prayer. “During these disturbing and threatening times,…
The journey for some fleeing war to finding long-term safety in Ireland can be a long and tough one, writes Róise McGagh Papy Kahoya Kasongo came to Ireland in 2015 from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Forced to flee due to his proximity to a controversial religious leader, he faced a long battle until…
A parent’s perspective Driving through Dublin on St Patrick’s Day was a surreal experience. Normally, the city would have been thronged with people bedecked in green, white and gold; practically every town in Ireland would have had some version of a St Patrick’s Day parade and the pubs, restaurants and hotels would have been…
We decided to triple my wife’s potential exposure to the coronavirus. It seemed like the sensible thing to do. This decision saw my wife go from working one to three shifts per week in the emergency department of our local hospital. This is on top of her normal GP work. As a doctor, she can…
In 1985, Nobel Prize winning author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, published a novel entitled, Love in the Time of Cholera. It tells a colourful story of how life can still be generative, despite an epidemic. Well what’s besetting our world right now is not cholera but the Coronavirus, Covid-19. Nothing in my lifetime has ever affected…
A Catholic from Indonesia has launched a crowdfunding portal to support the construction of churches and chapels in remote areas of the country. The portal, Jalakasih.com, was launched last week at Our Lady of Carmel Church in Jakarta by the Vinea Dei Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded by Albertus Tan in 2017. Tan is assisted…
A History of Ireland in International Relations by Owen McGee (Irish Academic Press, €24.95/£21.99 In this book the author takes up the challenge of the late Garret FitzGerald to future historians that “the international economic context behind Irish political history” should be “fully integrated into the narrative of both the Irish state and its international relations”.…
Peter Costello
Maria Byrne
Rory Fitzgerald
Fr Ronald Rolheiser