The stamps, and a commemorative First Day Cover (FDC) envelope, were designed by leading designer Ger Garland. The first features the signatures of the Irish Treaty delegates – Arthur Griffith (leader), Michael Collins, Robert Barton, Éamon Duggan and George Gavan Duffy, and the British representatives – David Lloyd George (Prime Minister), Austen Chamberlain, Lord Birkenhead…
The Sunday Gospel This Sunday we celebrate the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, marking the beginning of his public ministry. He has emerged from the 30 years of what we call his hidden life. Since Jesus was without sin, he did not need to submit himself to the ceremonial bathing that John the…
Renowned sports broadcaster Marty Morrissey has recently spoken of how his belief in the afterlife has increased since the death of his mother, Peggy, in a car accident last December. Speaking to comedian Tommy Tiernan on his RTE Radio One show, ‘The Marty Morrissey Show’ on Monday, Mr Morrissey expressed how in spite of the…
Even in our weak and vulnerable human nature, we have a great capacity to love which can be released through the Holy Spirit, writes Martin McGee OSB Blessed Pierre Claverie OP was born in Algeria in 1938 in a lower middle-class district of Algiers. Pierre, the elder of two children, experienced a very loving and…
Pope Francis will beatify Pope John Paul I on September 4, at the Vatican, according to Stefania Falasca, a journalist and vice postulator of the late Pope’s sainthood cause. Last autumn, Pope Francis had signed a decree recognising a miracle attributed to the intercession of Pope John Paul I, clearing the way for his beatification.…
Priest who led child protection charged in abuse case A retired priest of the US Diocese of Arlington, who for seven years oversaw the diocese’s programme on protecting minors from clerical sexual abuse, was indicted shortly before Christmas on two counts of sexually abusing a minor. A trial is scheduled next October for Fr Terry…
In “fighting the battles of the past, we learn little”, Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown said in his new year’s homily, ahead of the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday – also called the Bogside Massacre – happened January 30, 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, when British soldiers shot and killed 14…
Hindu nationalists falsely accuse missionaries of exploiting the vulnerable to win converts, writes David Quinn Mother Teresa is one of the most loved figures of the 20th Century, and in the eyes of millions of Catholics, a saint. It’s probably for this reason that she also comes under continual attack. The most famous of the…
Jenny and Bill Rush and other parishioners at Sts Peter and Paul Church in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, were nearly finished praying the rosary after an early morning Mass on New Year’s Day when an isolated tornado shook the church, much to their surprise. As the storm roared, the group prayed all the louder, Jenny told Catholic…
Rather than cover the signature of the Treaty on December 6, 1921 this year the pages devoted to the past will reflect upon the Dáil vote to accept the Treaty, the centenary of which falls tomorrow on January 7. This may well be, in the fuller retrospect of history, a far more important date, it…
Ruadhán Jones
David Quinn
Peter Costello