More than 100 people, including Church and State dignitaries, attended a farewell gathering for Papal Nuncio to Ireland Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, June 29. Archbishop Okolo, who spent some six years as nuncio to Ireland having arrived in 2017, is leaving soon to take up a new posting in Czechia. The Primate of All-Ireland Archbishop…
Catholic bishops in the Central African Republic have warned that disrupted food and fuel supplies during the war in Ukraine are undermining the quest for peace and stability. They said the Central African Republic was not becoming economically self-sufficient and, “like the other countries, it is undergoing convulsions from the Ukrainian crisis. Marked by our…
Christianity is key to fighting racism and nationalism, John Milbank tells Ruadhán Jones While modern secularism seeks to push religion, particularly Christianity, to the borders of society, English philosopher and theologian John Milbank says we must not go into our bunkers. Christianity is vital to tackling the modern “secular religiosities” of racism, nationalism and liberal…
Denominational identity in me runs deep. Born, baptised, and raised a Roman Catholic, Roman Catholicism is my second nature, like a brand on my skin. I have no regrets about the congenital grip this has on me, even though now I think of it more as a foundation than as an endpoint in my faith…
Liam Fitzpatrick Personal profile Stepping off the plane at Dublin Airport and making his way to Shannon, Fr Francis Kochuveettil was nervous. He’d lived in India all his life, giving Mass 2-3 times a day, and heard horror stories about declining attendance and vigour in European churches. Fr Kochuveettil is one of many international priests…
Search and Rescue. True Stories of Irish Air-Sea Rescues and the Loss of R116 Lorna Siggins (Merrion Press, Price €16.95) Lorna Siggins’s update of her book Mayday, Mayday, covers the huge expansion of Ireland’s air-sea rescue services since 2004. The time when mariners in distress off our coasts were almost entirely dependent on the Royal Air Force when a…
The Sunday Gospel On the road to Jerusalem Jesus taught the way of discipleship. The spiritual life has been compared to a tripod supported on the legs of prayer, study of our religion and practical action. Today’s Gospel, the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 15: 10-37), is about love in action. On the Sundays in…
Last week saw the 100th anniversary of the start of Ireland’s Civil War. It’s not something most of us would want to celebrate, but it’s appropriate to mark or commemorate it – it was a significant event that we can still learn from, and an event that, unbelievably, still influences our politics today. It’s a…
Pope pens new liturgy letter Pope Francis published a letter on the liturgy June 29, nearly one year after he issued the motu proprio Traditionis custodes, restricting the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass. In the 15-page apostolic letter, Desiderio Desideravi, the Pope said he wanted “to invite the whole Church to rediscover, to safeguard, and to…
Dear Editor, Before we all get carried away with the decision of the US Supreme Court in its setting aside of the Roe vs Wade judgement, let’s not think that this means it shows US support for a pro-life philosophy. Regrettably, we are a long way from this. For pro-life to be authentic, it must…
Ruadhán Jones
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Brendan O’Regan