I’ve been thinking a lot about vocations lately. We are all aware how many of our priests have had to cocoon during this pandemic because their age puts them in a vulnerable position. Commentators have suggested that this time has given us a glimpse of where the Church in Ireland may be in the coming…
Three Catholic-run hospitals providing life-saving services free of charge to vulnerable Syrians hope to aid some 50,000 patients by the project’s end next year. “Institutions in Syria now are having a lot of difficulties…so, this project supporting these hospitals is helping them to go on,” said Flavia Chevallard, project coordinator for Operation Open Hospitals in…
Currently, the Government recommends wearing cloth masks – it does not require medical grade masks or respirators. The Government considers medical masks and respirators as vital supplies and are not intended for use by the public in the community. They want to try and make sure that medical face masks are kept for health care…
It is normal to feel restless as a child, lonely as a teenager, and frustrated by lack of intimacy as an adult; after all we live with insatiable desires of every kind, none of which will ever find full fulfillment this side of eternity. Where do these desires come from? Why are they so insatiable?…
Vatican recognises ‘rogue’ exorcist group A Vatican-recognised group of exorcists has issued a new handbook for practitioners of the Church’s ritual to combat demonic possession, among other things insisting that authority to perform exorcisms belongs exclusively to priests assigned by their diocesan bishop and no one else. According to figures from the group, the move comes…
The Church is adapting to the fact that the parish is no longer attached to its geographic location, writes Elise Ann Allen Urging parish communities to abandon ‘outdated’ models and to embrace what Pope Francis has styled as a spirit of ‘missionary evangelisation,’ is the top line in a new instruction on the renewal of…
Religious TV shows aimed at a young audience are pretty rare, but last week I week I caught up with a few. Life on the Rock (EWTN) has a more youthful feel than most of that channel’s output but the format needs to be more energised. It can be more than a bit staid but…
Many people with a curiosity about faith find that studying theology brings them to the next level, writes Deirdre Soffe The thought might have crossed your mind that someday, you would like to know more about theology. Perhaps while your knowledge and skills in an occupational field advanced, your knowledge of the core issues of…
The Greatest Secret: How Being God’s Adopted Children Changes Everything by Krish Kandiah (Hodder and Stoughton, £12.99) I showed this book to a regular reader of religious books while writing this notice. She grasped the general tenor of its theme at once. “Oh,” she said, “what a lovely idea.” It seemed to her to get to…
Mention Mozart’s operas and possibly four spring to mind immediately – The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte and The Magic Flute – but there others not least La clemenza di Tito, which like The Magic Flute, was written in the last months of the composer’s life in 1791. But going back a…
Bairbre Cahill
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello