The first great charity of this town: Belfast Charitable Society and its role in the developing city edited by Olwen Purdue (Irish Academic Press, €29.95/£24.99) The Belfast Charitable Society was established in 1752 for the purpose of raising funds to build a poorhouse and hospital for the poor of Belfast. The result was the building…
The retired archbishop of Strasbourg, France, admitted making “inappropriate gestures” to an adult woman when he was a Franciscan priest in the 1980s. Archbishop Jean-Pierre Grallet issued a public statement November 15. He said both a criminal investigation and canonical investigation were underway and that he would withdraw from speaking publicly during the investigations. He…
Religion & the Rise of Sport in England by Hugh McLeod (Oxford University Press, €34.00/£30.00) Prior to the World Cup which opened in Qatar on Sunday, letter which FIFA has sent to all 32 countries taking part asking them to “focus on the football” in Qatar rather than “every ideological and political battle that exists”,…
Relatives of army chaplain Fr Willie Doyle SJ have described their joy after his cause for sainthood was officially opened in Co. Westmeath over the weekend. Fr Doyle died in 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I. The courageous priest is known for ministering to all who needed him, despite their creed…
Faith Development He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” In any important relationship we pay attention to the other person and to what they have to say to us, through words or otherwise. In meditation,…
The first chapter of the Book of Revelation contains a powerful challenge that’s hidden within the overall esoteric language of that book. John, its author, speaking in the voice of God, says something to this effect: I have seen how hard you work, I have seen your fidelity and your hunger for the truth; but I have this against you: “you have less…
Pope Francis travels to share special meal with his cousins Pope Francis travelled to northern Italy on Saturday to celebrate the 90th birthday of his second cousin Carla Rabezzana with his Italian relatives. The 85-year-old Pope arrived by helicopter in the Italian province of Asti, 30 miles east of Turin, just before noon on November…
Editor’s Comment Writing to early Christians in Asia Minor nearly 2,000 years ago St Peter urged believers to: “always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have” (I Peter 3:15). The Christians were a minority at the time often facing persecution, and St Peter referred…
Maynooth College reflects on facing Life’s End Perspectives on Dying and Death edited by Jeremy Corley and others, with a foreword by Archbishop Farrell €14.95 /£12.95) This book represents, in my view, an interesting development in the teaching tradition of Maynooth, now of course a much larger and very different institution than it was back…
Dear Editor, Dr Tom Finegan [The Irish Catholic – November 10, 2022] puts us all in his debt by drawing our attention to a fault line in our thinking as Catholics. Like a geological fault line it is all the more dangerous for being unsuspected. We don’t think it is possible for us to imitate…
Peter Costello
Chai Brady
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly