There’s a tension among Christians today between those who would extend God’s mercy everywhere, seemingly without any conditions, and those who are more reticent and discriminating in dispensing it. The tension comes out most clearly in our debates concerning who may receive the sacraments: Who should be allowed to receive the Eucharist? Who should be…
Newcestown parish in Co. Cork marked the 150th anniversary of St John the Baptist Church and the 50th anniversary of Bishop Galvin Central School Friday, June 24. Bishop of Cork and Ross Fintan Gavin and Fr Bernard Cotter PP concelebrated Mass, before the bishop planted a tree on the school grounds to mark the special…
If we all went home and loved our families, the world would be a better place, was Tyrone footballer Peter Harte’s message for families in Drumragh parish as he quoted St Mother Teresa. Occasioned by the World Meeting of Families in Rome, Drumragh parish in Omagh, Co. Tyrone celebrated a ‘vocation of the family Mass’…
In a 6-3 decision last week the US Supreme Court overturned its nearly 50-year-old decision in Roe v Wade that legalised abortion in the US. The move has been widely welcomed by Irish pro-life activists. The court’s 213-page ruling in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organisation was not totally unexpected due to the leak of…
Keith Burnside, radio and broadcast journalist at Ulster TV and BBC TV Ulster, retired after 44 years. He elaborated on his faith in an interview on the BBC’s Sunday Sequence. “My faith is important to me. I’m a regular churchgoer. I respect faith. I believe, and I continue to believe and pray. “I wouldn’t be…
Chairman and former editor of the Irish News Jim Fitzpatrick has died. Mr Fitzpatrick, 92, had owned the newspaper since the early 1980s. Great privilege Taoiseach Micheál Martin led tributes, saying that he had the “great privilege” of knowing Mr Fitzpatrick for many years, and that he was “in every respect, a true gentleman”. “In…
One of the most finely illustrated medieval manuscripts has been digitised by the Library of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) for the first time. Created by the renowned Benedictine monk and scribe of the 13th Century, Matthew Paris, the Book of St Albans features 54 individual works of medieval art that have fascinated readers throughout the…
Speaking to young delegates participating at the National Pre-Synod Assembly in Athlone, The Synodal Times asked those involved in Diocesan grassroots movements what their views on the Church at present are. Here we speak to the Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Diocese of Kilmore, Francis Keaney. Commenting on the days’ events,…
Mary Anne Collins from Cork, one of the youngest delegates at the National Pre-Synodal Assembly said the entire event was very upbeat. Young people, she said, are “really looking for authenticity and sincerity. When they do find the truth, they’re really willing to embrace it and that that has been my experience: that young people…
Another young lay delegate who featured at the National Pre-Synodal Assembly discussion, Patrick Byrne from the Diocese of Ardagh, told The Synodal Times that the discussions had been stimulating, but more needs to be done if the Church wishes to fruitfully reach out to the margins. “It’s been a very good experience”, he said. “What…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser