Every year, certain storylines dominate news coverage of the Vatican. Some are largely positive, though many tend to be negative, such as the clerical abuse scandals that have been a strong contender for biggest Vatican story of the year for each of the last 20 years. Reporters being basically pack animals, the inevitable effect of…
Recently NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope into space, the biggest and most expensive telescope ever built. It will take six months for it to travel a million miles from the earth, find its permanent place in space, and then start transmitting pictures back to earth. Those pictures will be such as have never…
For Christians in Chin and Kayah states, there were no Christmas and New Year celebrations due to fighting. They have borne the brunt of a decades-old civil war and faced oppression and persecution at the hands of the military, reported ucanews.com. On December 29, Catholics in Kayah’s Hpruso Township held a funeral for 35 civilians…
Dear Editor, As the pandemic rolls on and on and as numbers suffering from Covid grow more and more in spite of vaccinations and many restrictions, I feel called to share some thoughts and reflections. There is clear evidence that the current state of the world is much cause for anxiety and concern among many…
A lay Catholic organisation held three rosary rallies in Dublin in the run up to Christmas to bring the “true joy” of Christmas to people, and to oppose secularisation. The Irish Society for Christian Civilisation (ISFCC) held the Christmas rallies on O’Connell Street on December 4, 11 and 18. The participants prayed the rosary and…
When you cut off sound, everything you hear afterwards becomes more precious. Maybe that’s why A Quiet Place resonated with so many people. Or why we laughed so much when mime artist Marcel Marceau spoke the only line of dialogue in Mel Brooks’ Silent Movie. Tilda Swinton has all but cornered the market on quirky…
Radical change is coming in the Church – Archbishop Dermot Farrell Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell recently spoke of how “radical change” is coming in the Church, a change which he believes will bring forth a renewal of energy and new forms of ministry. “With a powerful commitment from clergy and lay faithful, across the…
Abandoning sacredness of the family promotes irresponsibility – Bishop McKeown When a society abandons the sacredness of the family, it promotes a “lack of responsibility and maturity”, Bishop Dónal McKeown said on the feast of the Holy Family. The bishop of Derry warned that “in a secular world, preparation for Church marriages needs to be…
Like many other families we went for a walk after Christmas. The rain from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day had turned the streets/paths into a pool of puddles to the delight of my children. It was a fantastic distraction as they would walk five kilometres easily jumping from puddle to puddle. As the children were…
Egyptian pharaoh’s mummy digitally unwrapped for first time The mummified body of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh has been studied for the first time in millennia after being digitally “unwrapped”. The mummy of Amenhotep I, who ruled from 1525 to 1504 BC, was found at a site in Deir el-Bahari 140 years ago. However, archaeologists have…
John L. Allen Jr.
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Chai Brady
Aubrey Malone