The report comes as criticisms of Disney bring Chinese cruelties to the fore again, writes Ruadhán Jones Near the end of a long list of credits is an obscure, seemingly inconsequential thank-you from Disney to the “Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region Committee”. Already alarm bells should be ringing. Xinjiang…
Making lunch enjoyable and healthy is a worthwhile challenge writes Ruadhán Jones It can be tempting to bow to our kids desire for a steady crisp and sweet supply, especially given the unusual back-to-school circumstances. Equally, it can be hard to imagine sending them off with a lunch box full of ‘rabbit food’, also known…
Letter from Rome Catholic bishops and diocesan tribunals are making steady progress in implementing Pope Francis’ reforms to make the annulment process quicker, but it is taking longer to achieve the Pope’s goal of making the process less expensive for couples. The proof is in the Statistical Yearbook of the Church, a 512-page tome of…
Euthanasia legislation is headed for the Spanish Senate and, if passed, would be a defeat for human dignity and would affirm a self-centred view of life that proposes death as a solution to one’s problems, the Spanish bishops’ conference said. “To insist on ‘the right to euthanasia’ is typical of an individualistic and reductionist vision…
Kerry: History & Society edited by Maurice J. Bric, introduction by Joe Lee, epilogue by Tommy O’Connor (Geography Publications, €60.00) This tremendous volume is the latest in the well established series of County Histories which the publishers have been producing for at least two decades. They are a sort of Irish version of the British ‘Victoria…
Medical Matters It’s now nearly seven months since the first confirmed case of Covid-19 in Ireland and the start of an unprecedented journey of restrictions and lockdowns that has radically changed the way we live. While we avoided a surge that could have swamped our health service, the death toll stands at over 1700, many…
The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) has announced the election of long-time member Rose McGowan as its new National President. Ms McGowan succeeds Kieran Stafford, whose three-year term ended on August 31. From Dublin, Ms McGowan has been a member of the SVP from her schooldays, when she began visiting with the Society in…
Holistic Healing: A Christian Approach by Pat Collins CM (Columba Books, €16.99) This book is only partly about healing. As with all medical matters health in mind, body and spirit begins not in curing but preventing. Living a whole life in a healthy way is the essence of the matter. And, Fr Collins [pictured below] suggests,…
In the second known instance in the United States, a man who believed himself to be a validly baptised Catholic and ordained priest had to “re-receive” all of his sacraments, including ordination, after discovering that his baptism was invalid. Fr Zachary Boazman, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, thought he was validly ordained…
Personal Profile Fr Jaimie Twohig’s faith has been guided by both his earthly and heavenly mothers from its genesis, and it has coloured his very perception. “Ever since I’ve been ordained, and throughout my studies as well, it’s just a thing that I constantly have to learn, that we’re just really vessels of his love,”…
Ruadhán Jones
Dr Kevin McCarroll
Peter Costello