The Nicaraguan Ministry of the Interior (Migob) announced in official media the “voluntary dissolution” of the Immaculate Conception Catholic University of the Archdiocese of Managua (UCICAM), which functioned as a formation centre for seminarians from the Nicaraguan capital. According to ministerial agreement 77-2023-OSFL, published May 18 in La Gaceta, the regime’s official newspaper, the minister…
Month: May 2023
What does it look like to hold a consistent life ethic?
A consistent life ethic takes us beyond ideas of the deserving and undeserving poor and vulnerable, writes Aimee Murphy When approached to write this piece, I first considered expounding upon my understanding of all the various issues that the consistent life ethic touches on: ending abortion, war, the death penalty, euthanasia, embryo destruction, police brutality,…
Irish WWI chaplain honoured by English college
An Irish World War I military chaplain has been honoured by a college in England after they named their new English centre after him. Servant of God Fr Willie Doyle SJ, whose cause for sainthood has been opened, was killed in action while assisting soldiers. He ministered to the 8th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers and died…
In Brief
Cork diocese gathers to discuss future The Faithful of Cork and Ross will gather to discuss the diocese’s future reorganisation over Pentecost weekend, with Bishop Fintan Gavin saying closer collaboration between laity and clergy is needed. Bishop Gavin has invited Julian Stanz, a married woman and mother of three, to lead two gatherings where she…
Exploring the role of Mary in the first days of the Church
Mary, Founder of Christianity by Chris Maunder (One World, €21.99/£18.99) Over the recent decades the role of women in the first centuries of the Church has come under more critical examination. One result of this, arising also from developed views of the role of women in society today, has been the demand for the ordination…
Anti-Catholic vandalism carried out in Mexico
The Diocese of Irapuato in the Mexican state of Guanajuato expressed its “profound consternation” over a fire deliberately set at Santiaguito (St James) Church and called it a “sacrilege”. In a statement published May 15, Fr Efrén Silva Plascencia, spokesman for the diocese, said that the fire “was set on the exterior by a male…
Investigation: Church in Poland under communism plagued by clerical sexual abuse
The number of victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Poland between 1944 and 1990 may be close to 1,100 with the number of abusers close to 300. Those are, however, not the official findings of the Church in Poland. On March 15, the bishops announced they will create a commission of experts…
Four distinct kinds of Christian prayer
There are four distinct kinds of Christian prayer: There is incarnational prayer, mystical prayer, affective prayer, and priestly prayer. What are these? How are they different from each other? Incarnational prayer St Paul invites us to “pray always”. How is this possible? We can’t always be praying – or can we? What Paul is inviting…
Only 47% of eligible couples availing of Catholic marriage
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has released its data for marriages 2022, and it makes for very interesting reading for those interested in the faith landscape of modern Ireland. There were 22,555 opposite-sex marriages in total in Ireland in 2022, with 19,672 of these being first-time marriages in the State. The CSO’s official webpage for…
Guard opens fire as man drives car into Vatican
An unidentified man is in custody after driving a car at high speed through a gate at the Vatican May 18, the Holy See press office said. A guard stationed at the Santa Anna entrance fired his weapon in the direction of the vehicle’s front tires, hitting the left front fender, but the vehicle proceeded…