Shannon Campbell The View The scrapping of the television licence fee is a threat that looms ever large over the BBC. Those in favour of the public defunding argue that it is a cold house for a diversity of views and opinions, often not reflective of the mood of the general populous. To be fair,…
Month: February 2022
Indian court bans religious clothing amid hijab dispute
Amid widespread protests over a ban on hijabs in schools, an Indian court has temporarily prohibited all forms of religious dress in schools while it considers a legal challenge to the hijab ban. The current conflict began in September 2021 when a girl’s preparatory school in the Indian state of Karnataka moved to ban hijabs,…
Crippling cost of living for young couples
The soaring cost of living is pushing a home and a family out of reach for many young couples, writes Jason Osborne Ireland’s soaring cost of living has been at the centre of the nation’s attention for the past few weeks now, with the Government seeing fit to unveil a €300 million support package in…
Unique opportunity to journey with St Patrick
Staff reporter The Saint Patrick Centre in Co. Down continues its highly successful all-inclusive five day/four night ‘St Patrick camino experience’ next month called ‘the journey’ with pilgrim guides Sister Martina Purdy and Sister Elaine Kelly staying in the Tobar Mhuire monastic retreat centre in Crossgar. The journey includes four guided walks through the stunning St Patrick’s Way in Co.…
Foreign pastors eager to repay Irish ministry
Incoming religious pastoral workers are eager to “give back” to Ireland after receiving from Irish mission work in the past, and to experience the “richness” of Ireland’s spirituality. Speaking to The Irish Catholic newspaper, participants in the Spiritans’ residential orientation course for incoming pastoral workers to Ireland told of their happiness at coming to Ireland…
St Patrick’s Maynooth announces launch of new online faith course
St Patrick’s Pontifical University Maynooth has launched a new online course on faith in a collaborative project with Aspal.ie, a learning platform committed to digital faith formation in Ireland, which will deliver “cutting edge digital catechesis right into the hands of people all across Ireland”. Taking place over an 8-week period between February 14 and…
Catholics in Myanmar’s Kayah state in war zone
A Church official from the Diocese of Loikaw told ucanews.com that he was in the middle of a war zone, with sounds of gunfire, artillery shelling and airstrikes a daily affair. He said the city of Loikaw, in Kayah state, had hundreds of people, “especially women, children and the elderly”, who were displaced from their…
Hitting the ground running this Lent
Lent is the ultimate time for re-focusing on the most important things in life, writes Jason Osborne Life is a hectic thing. Work, family, hobbies and many, many other things vie for our attention and demand our efforts day in, day out. These are all very good things, of course, but none of them are…
The case for organised religion
Organised religion is a net force for good in the world, writes David Quinn The Oxford Union is regarded as the most prestigious university debating society in the world. Last week, the proposition for debate was, ‘This House would move beyond organised religion’. One of the speakers opposed to the motion was the Catholic archbishop…
The mysterious centuries of Early Christian Ireland
Davnet and Dympna: A Single Cult by Seosamh Ó Dufaigh (Clogher Historical Society, €30.00; website: www.clogherhistory.ie) The tradition about St Dympna of Oriel (the ancient territory now covered by the Dioceses of Armagh and Clogher) was that she was the beautiful daughter of the local king in the 7th Century. His wife died early and…