Cardinal Zen hospitalised in Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen has been hospitalised in Hong Kong after his health deteriorated upon returning from Benedict XVI’s funeral in Rome. The 91-year-old cardinal wrote on his blog on January 31 that he is receiving treatment in the hospital after experiencing difficulty breathing. Cardinal Zen said that the doctors…
Jonathan Luxmoore Catholic religious orders have played a major role in channelling life-saving humanitarian aid across Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, keeping hopes alive while continuing to minister to the country’s much-depleted Catholic communities. “Although some have had to leave, most religious priests and sisters have stayed on – and their witness has been…
Cindy Wooden After flying across the equator, Pope Francis was welcomed warmly – in every sense – to Congo where Catholics make up the majority of the population and where, for decades, the Catholic Church has been at the forefront of efforts to bring peace, education and health care to the people. With a small…
Creating the human race may be the single biggest mistake that evolution made. Douglas Abrams writes this in The Book of Hope, a book he co-authored with Jane Goodall. While that is a rather despairing view, in the end, this book is a book of hope, though not without it issuing a dire warning: There…
When I Was Your Age: Ireland’s Grandparents Share Memories and Wisdom, by Valerie Cox (Hachette Books, Ireland, €21.00/£18.50) This is a compelling collection of interviews with grandparents, some well-known, some not so well-known. The collection will be immensely interesting to those of a certain vintage, both those who are and who do not happen…
It’s hard to believe Audrey Hepburn is dead 30 years this year. I loved her as an actress since I was a child, having been enthralled by her beauty and grace. She’d lost neither of these qualities when I interviewed her in 1988 at the Burlington Hotel, as it was then called. But at this…
There is a hunger for religious life in Ireland the head of the CFR sisters tells Ruadhán Jones The Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal (CFR) are bucking the trend in Ireland. At a time when many orders must contract and retrench as the vocation crisis bites, the CFR sisters have opened a new house of…
Last week, a phonecall changed the course of the day. A friend told me he had gone to see An Cailín Ciúin the previous evening and encouraged me to go. I said I would. Later, speaking with another friend, I mentioned this to him and wondered if he’d be free to go along with me.…
I was triggered too much last week so I’m edgy. I get triggered when I hear stories about trigger warnings being added to innocuous or even worthy material. Last year it was the (trenchantly anti-racist) novel To Kill a Mockingbird, last week it was Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen! Lunchtime Live (Newstalk, Tuesday) took a…
Pro-life TD to head Oireachtas committee on assisted suicide Kerry Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae has been appointed chair of the special Oireachtas Committee on assisted suicide and euthanasia. It was recommended in 2021 that the Committee be established to undertake an in-depth examination of the topic after an earlier piece of legislation, proposed by Gino…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Aubrey Malone
Ruadhán Jones
Brendan O’Regan