Going against the grain has earned Poland an international media rebuke, writes Jason Osborne Poland has opted for the road less travelled by with its re-election of incumbent Andrzej Duda for a second term as president following a tight race against Warsaw mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski. Mr Duda’s victory was sealed with the reigning president securing…
Churches should be treated like any other institution when it comes to covid grants, said Fianna Fáil TD Jackie Cahill. Deputy Cahill told The Irish Catholic that Churches loss of income and expenses accrued as a result of lockdown should be taken into account. “Like many other institutions, Churches’ sources of income have been greatly restricted,” said…
A Hungarian Christian Democrat member of the European Parliament has warned that growing secularism is to blame for Europe’s silence on human rights violations against religious minorities. As the parliament debated the 2019 human rights annual report, György Hölvényi MEP insisted that “if Europe, guided by extreme secularism, is silent on violations against religious minorities,…
Nearly every US bishop responding to a survey said the coronavirus pandemic has seriously affected the celebration of the sacraments and rites and sacramental preparation programmes in their dioceses. Confirmations, first Communions, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and other sacramental preparation were the ministries most often cited by the bishops as being affected,…
Free speech specialist and lawyer Ivan Hare has attacked proposals which could “suppress expression which is at the heart of political debate” in the North. The proposals are set out in a recent review of the region’s ‘hate crime’ laws, spearheaded by Judge Desmond Marrinan. Mr Hare wrote in an article for The Christian Institute that proposals…
We rightly mourn the deaths of over 1,700 people from Covid-19 but the loss of more than 7,000 little ones from abortion passes almost without comment As a Church, it’s the very least we can do in response to the deafening silence from the media and the majority of politicians who have largely ignored the…
Ruadhán Jones discusses how children can improve their word skills at home Many parents have struggled to effectively help their children with schoolwork during lockdown; for parents of children with dyslexia, it’s even more challenging. Experts suggest that around 10% of children in Ireland are affected by dyslexia. This suggests that there are many school…
The Benedictine Nuns & Kylemore Abbey: A History by Deirdre Raftery and Catherine KilBride (The Benedictine Nuns Kylemore Abbey Centenary/Irish Academic Press, €19.95/£17.99) This book is the story of an Irish success, but it is much more than that. It also encapsulates, in the story of Kylemore Abbey, a history of Connemara over some two centuries,…
Staff at the Pope John XXIII hospital in Bergamo – once the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy – have announced that they have no more patients with coronavirus in their intensive care unit. After 137 days of trying to keep critically ill patients alive, staff gathered for a moment of silence to remember…
Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin Denis Nulty has announced a range of fresh diocesan appointments Fr Ruairí Ó’Domhnaill Adm. cathedral to become PP Newbridge in succession to Fr Paul Dempsey, Bishop-elect of Achonry. Fr Liam Morgan PP Naas, Sallins, Two Mile House to become VF north deanery, retaining responsibility for parish renewal and development. Fr…
Ruadhán Jones
Peter Costello