The percentage of sermons about abortion is in the single digits, according to a Pew Research Centre study, the results of which were released yesterday, April 29. Even a mention of abortion in a sermon is rare, according to the study. Pew analysed nearly 50,000 sermons shared online or livestreamed by more than 6,000 US…
Continuing restrictions need to be provided for Chai Brady, Róise McGagh and Aron Hegarty Bishop Donal McKeown has said that Church leaders must come up with a plan to show health authorities that social distancing can work in parishes when restrictions start to ease. As authorities on both sides of the border prepare to reconsider…
A Fianna Fáil representative claims older people are “not being treated fairly” when it comes to healthcare treatment and coverage by mainstream media. Mary Butler TD, the party’s spokesperson on the elderly, told The Irish Catholic that those aged over 65 with Covid-19 being admitted to hospital may not be getting the clinical care they…
Britain’s secretary of state for the North exceeded his powers by introducing liberal abortion regulations the region’s chief legal adviser has said. Under the European Convention on Human Rights protection must be given to the rights of those opposed on religious or philosophical grounds, Attorney General John Larkin QC, said, and it is doubtful that this was…
The Christian Brothers has made the Emmaus Retreat House in Swords, Co. Dublin available for the State to use during the coronavirus. “The State can use it in this time when we are dealing with a virus in whatever form they wish,” Bro. Dominic Sassi CFC told The Irish Catholic. Bro. Dominic also said he…
Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary in Liberia are attempting to tackle Covid-19 through passing vital information between rural villages. Sr Bridget Lacey, one of the founders of Social Empowerment Through Learning, said: “Our aim of what we’re doing in Covid-19 is to prevent villages from getting the virus. “We are currently working with around…
Ruadhán Jones Dublin based journalist Yvonne Kinsella has revealed how she “clung to prayer” when struck down with the coronavirus. Ms Kinsella spent 13 days in hospital due to Covid-19, and her condition worsened to the point that nurses told her she would be put in an induced coma and taken to ICU. Speaking…
Historic memories of the Spanish flu of 1918-20 have been frequently invoked during the present pandemic – the novelist Emma O’Donoghue, who wrote Room, will be publishing a new novel in July based on the so-called Spanish flu. (Unfair to blame the Spanish for that pandemic: Spain’s press simply reported it, being free of wartime…
A Co. Laois-based priest who has been an outspoken supporter of asylum seekers has said that the coronavirus pandemic is having a severe effect on those living in direct provision. Fr Paddy Byrne, parish priest of Abbeyleix, told The Irish Catholic that he fears the current crisis is “severely challenging” for “vulnerable” families living in accommodation while…
It remains painful that we cannot gather physically and hear the scriptures proclaimed and share in Holy Communion says Bishop Donal McKeown The Holy Bible is full of great stories. It may be events like the one we have heard about today [the disciples meeting the Lord on the road to Emmaus] – or…
Chai Brady
Mary Kenny