The Colombian Bishops’ Conference appealed for peace following two brutal massacres of young people last week in the country. In a statement, the bishops expressed their “deep grief and concern” over the killings. “We pray to God for the victims and we express our closeness and solidarity with their families, the inhabitants of the cities…
As parishes adapt to new ways to celebrate rites of initiation, technology is easing the transition, writes Jason Osborne In the current climate, preparation for the sacraments has been grievously complicated. The Catechetics Council of the Irish Bishops Conference, convened by Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick Diocese, identified a gap in the preparation of school…
Personal Profile Fr David Vard represents a face of the Church that is not often seen in the western world today: that of a young man’s. Rarer still is the face of a young priest. While youth Catholicism has its vibrant strongholds around the country, it is yet to bear much fruit on the vocations…
A restoration project at a country house in Norfolk, England has uncovered items that shed new light on the steadfast faith of a Catholic family in the wake of the English Reformation. The discoveries include a fragment of a 15th-Century illuminated manuscript found by a builder in the eaves of Oxburgh Hall, a moated manor…
The body of a Belfast priest was recovered from Detroit river five days after a freak accident capsized the boat he was travelling on. Fr Stephen Rooney, PP of St Joseph’s, Trenton, Illinois, and one other passenger went missing on Sunday, August 16. Their fishing charter overturned when it hit a submerged rock in the Detroit river’s channel,…
Living Laudato Si’ September 1st marks the World Day of Prayer for Creation and the beginning of the Season of Creation. This season, which is now part of the Church’s liturgical calendar, runs until October 4th, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, patron Saint of ecology. The Season of Creation in an ecumenical season…
Even in August, the growing darkness of autumn silently approaches. Even after gloriously long days spent at the beach, the ever-earlier dusk surprises us. An ambush by an usually wintry wind presages the equinoctial gales to come. For the children, this has been the longest summer. As soon as the schools were closed last March,…
Letter from America Christopher White In a moving essay published earlier this month in America magazine, the writer Mike Lewis chronicles how the division in the Church over Pope Francis has divided his own family, with his elderly (now deceased) mother spending her final years on earth saying that Francis has confused the Church. “My…
Summer outings (No.6 in a six-part series) This book, edited from Tim White’s Irish diaries, was published in 1959, the year after the compilation of his separately published Arthurian novels appeared in one volume, The Once and Future King. This book became a major best seller here and in the Americas. It provided the source…
Courage isn’t one of my strong points, at least not one particular kind of courage. Scripture tells us that as John the Baptist grew up he became strong in spirit. My growing up was somewhat different. Unlike John the Baptist, as I grew up I became accommodating in spirit. This had its reasons. I was…
Rory Fitzgerald
Peter Costello
Fr Ronald Rolheiser