Children’s Corner In these days of lockdown many parents are doing their best to keep their children occupied and up to date with their education. With schools being out of the equation it can be daunting to teach children subjects that may not be a parent’s strong point: like science. However, there are fun…
A Northern Ireland deacon is putting his love for music and ministry to great effect as he preaches the Faith through broadcasts on social media. Deacon Brendan Dowd, one of nine permanent deacons in the diocese of Down and Connor, has been using his Facebook page and YouTube channel to spread the Gospel during the…
Entertaining tots with child-friendly apps There is a lot to be said for co-using technology with your children, especially as this gives you the opportunity to influence how they engage with technology. There are several apps that can bring out children’s creative side, or enhance skills such as problem solving, collaborating or communicating with others.…
The newly arrived swallows swoop across the evening sky; happy heralds of summer. They have journeyed from Africa to our eaves, where they will nest for the summer. Our little valley has become rewilded in recent years, with acres of new woods springing up nearby us. Buzzards and falcons now regularly soar overhead. Trout frequent…
Covid-19 has made us all change the way we watch movies. Those of us lucky enough to have computers can cope easily enough with online purchases. Others have to be more innovative; I saw a news report about a man in Fermoy recently who’s showing films on walls for his neighbours. Desperate situations require desperate…
Over the coming weeks some of our literary collaborators will give suggestions for ‘lockdown’ reading, books of all kinds to amuse and raise our spirits. This week, Des Egan on James Thurber… I have always had a soft spot for cartoons, even to the point of proposing some cartoon-plays consisting of a single sentence,…
One of the things I’ve noticed about public debate in the media is that sometimes certain views are marginalised. People are often unaware of this, or conveniently oblivious, until they find their own views suffering the same fate and then the penny drops. This is happening to a certain extent in the debates over Covid-19,…
Notebook Last week I had a very sad phone call from a colleague of mine in another part of the country. He has been a very dedicated priest for almost 50 years. For the last eight weeks he has been cocooning in his home unable to celebrate any kind of public Mass or have…
“I thought my first cappuccino after 54 days was amazing, but being at Mass after 10 weeks was even better,” a Roman friend said this week. Churches in the eternal city were re-opened for public Masses this week after a long Lent. “It finally felt like Easter,” my friend wrote. Italy has been devastated by coronavirus.…
The publishers of Magnificat magazine have launched an Adoration Companion to assist Catholics during Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, a practice that seems to have increased during the current Covid-19 period. Fr Sebastian White OP who edited the Companion describes the book as “A treasury of teachings, prayers, meditations, and witnesses from the saints to…
Chai Brady
Rory Fitzgerald
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan
Michael Kelly