Whether of pagan or Catholic origins, Hallowe’en is more than a commercial holiday writes Ruadhán Jones An infrequent and unofficial “battle”’ takes place between Christians, Neo Pagans and sometimes New Atheists. It comes to the fore every time we have a major feast in the Church. Easter and Christmas, it is erroneously claimed, originated in…
The president of the French bishops’ council for Catholic education expressed solidarity with the country’s school community following the beheading of a school teacher in an Islamist terror attack last week. “In these dark hours, Catholic education feels deeply united in solidarity with the whole school community…and first of all with the teachers,” Archbishop Laurent…
A Belarusian archbishop who has been denied entry back into his own country said the Vatican was doing everything in its power to resolve the situation and help him return. To live in “forced exile” is difficult, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk told SIR, the news agency of the Italian bishops’ conference. “I can only live in…
Letter from Rome Almost 75 years ago, Arnold Toynbee described what historians are trying to find as they scour the past in his book Civilization on Trial: “The things that make good headlines are on the surface of the stream of life, and they distract us from the slower, impalpable, imponderable movements that work below the…
The Lonely Century. Coming together in a world that’s pulling apart by Noreena Hertz (Sceptre, £20.00) Frank Litton It is no surprise that soap operas are a staple of television. After all, we make sense of where we are and where we might go with the ‘story’ of our lives. We find ourselves cast into roles…
Everything must be done to make sure that schools in the North reopen next week to avoid “repercussions for years to come” according to the Chief Executive of the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCSM). Writing in The Irish News, Gerry Campbell said the CCSM is “extremely concerned” about the immediate impact on young people…
The World of Books By the books editor Once again, thanks largely it seems to a very human impatience to be done, once and for all, with the pandemic, lockdown restrictions have returned because so many, especially in Dublin and Kildare, could not wait as calmly as we should for ‘normal life to return’. But…
Personal Profile With Ireland having entered a second period of full restriction, making an effort to communicate is more important than ever, and Fr Eamonn McCarthy finds himself at the forefront of those efforts through his work with Radio Maria. The Dublin-based priest is well-known on Irish airwaves, helming Radio Maria’s mission in Ireland with…
A Catholic Church labour group in the Philippines has accused lawmakers of ignoring the poor, as well as the health and labour sectors with its budget for 2021 by not allocating a “sufficient amount” to cushion the effect of the coronavirus on hard-hit Filipinos. The Church People-Solidarity Group, an organisation composed of clergymen and churchgoers…
An only child, my seven-year-old daughter is already acting like a teenager, losing her temper over the smallest thing, shouting at me, banging doors and telling me she hates me. Her emotions are out of control and my husband and I don’t know how to help her. It is likely that a combination of factors…
Ruadhán Jones
John L. Allen Jr.
Peter Costello
Wendy Grace