The new series of laws and provisions set out in the revised section on crimes and penalties in the Code of Canon Law will help the Catholic Church in its efforts at safeguarding, said two canon lawyers. Pope Francis promulgated the new changes in ‘Book VI: Penal Sanctions in the Church’, and they will go…
Revised canon law on crimes, punishments published A series of laws and procedures promulgated by now-retired Pope Benedict XVI and, especially, by Pope Francis to protect children, promote the investigation of allegations of clerical sexual abuse and punish offenders are included in a heavily revised section of the Code of Canon Law. The revision of…
Saints, Scholars, Heroes by Fr Éamon Flanagan CM (Kolbe Publications; ISBN: 9-780952-962724; €7.00+postage) This is a collection of poems about people, places and events and much more besides. They are written from a Christian and communitarian perspective, are immensely personal and are imbued with a Catholic sensibility. Fr Éamon Flanagan celebrates in verse Fr Eamon O’Hara…
Home is more than a house or a place on a map. It’s a place in the heart, the place where you most want to be at the end of the day. The metaphorical idea of home can help us sort out many things, not least how sex connects to love. The soul, as we…
Christina Malone As I tried to be creative while working from home my daughter comes running inside and tells me that she has no homework today, but that she has to learn prayers (she knew already) for her First Confession. It is March and my three children (nine, seven and four ) are finally back…
Sometimes I have to leave the room when I think someone is going to give away crucial plot twists in a TV drama series, so have no fear that I’ll include spoilers this week. I’ve largely enjoyed the new crime drama series The Pact which finished on BBC One, Tuesday of last week. It was…
Austrian bishops oppose assisted suicide ruling Austria’s Catholic bishops urged the authorities on June 1 to offer people “assistance to live”, rather than assistance to suicide. The bishops issued a statement in the wake of a ruling by the country’s top court that assisted suicide should no longer be a criminal offense. “Dying is a…
Great Music in Irish Houses had plans to celebrate its golden jubilee last year but these were scuppered in Covid-19’s unrelentingly treacherous seas. With Government restrictions on gatherings continuing, the commemorative programme could not be revisited meaning headaches for the festival’s artistic director, Ciara Higgins, and her assiduous team. However, Ms Higgins is nothing if…
The Sunday Gospel Fr Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap. There are many priests, teachers and parents who feel totally inadequate in the face of today’s society. The answers of yesterday seem to have no relationship with the questions of today. Many people are finding it hard to hold on to any faith in the Church. They…
Dear Editor, The issue of Irish prisoners not being able to attend Mass, highlighted on your front page [IC 03/06/2021], is most serious. Although some of these people may be behind bars for serious criminal offences, this does not mean that their constitutional rights can so easily and wrongly be taken from them – particularly…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Brendan O’Regan