María Ruiz Scaperlanda In December 2016, Pope Francis officially recognised Fr Stanley Rother’s martyrdom, making him the first American-born martyr. In September 2017, he became the first male born in the United States to be beatified. How a 46-year-old diocesan priest from a small German farming community in Oklahoma came to live and die in…
Sofia Zate The Society of St Vincent de Paul has released its 2024 pre-budget submission, highlighting its recommendations for the upcoming national budget. Announcing the submission, President Rose McGowan stressed that “The last 18 months have been an incredibly difficult time for those that seek our help and a very busy time for our members…
Questions of Faith There is an enormous gap between the public perception of sainthood and the reality of it. The vast majority of people believe that saints are born rather than made, titanic figures of myth and legend that we devote art to and tell stories about, nearly like Hercules or Prometheus, except that their…
Judith Sudilovsky Cardinal-designate Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, expressed the need to respect and protect the life and dignity of Palestinians during a July 10 visit to Jenin, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the city July 5. “I see another face of resilience. I see people suffering, people experiencing the consequences of…
A charity that represents Catholic schools has highlighted that parents have a right to withdraw schoolchildren fully or in-part from any new sex education classes for secondary schools. Regarding the draft Social Personal Health Education (SPHE) curriculum, the Catholic Education Partnership (CEP) expressed disappointment “the spiritual aspect of wellbeing has been neglected” as well as…
Cardinal Reinhard Marx asked for forgiveness in the case of a German WWII massacre in Italy on the orders of a man who went on to become a bishop in Munich. Before he ascended to the rank of auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising in 1968, Matthias Defregger wore a different uniform.…
A bill to introduce ‘safe access zones’ around abortion providers appears to exempt hospitals with chapels within the building, TD Michael McNamara has said. The bill, which bans pro-life prayer and demonstration around abortion providers, may exempt the National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street and St Vincent’s University Hospital, according to Mr McNamara. A section…
Here are two books, for two different age groups, which will provide amusing and interesting reading for children this summer when they need to escape from the all too brilliant sun and sit in the shade and read. The Most Irish Person written by Shelly Corcoran, illustrated by Angelika Sowul (Currach Books, €12.99) The first…
Kimberley Heatherington Those who minister to, or are part of, the community of people who identify as LGBTQ+ have observed a noted shift with respect to them and their concerns in the working document for the Church’s forthcoming synod of bishops convened by Pope Francis. The working document, or Instrumentum Laboris, was released June 20…
Authorities have arrested a suspect in the murder last week of a teacher from Kentucky on the campus of the Catholic University of America. On July 5, 25-year-old Maxwell Emerson was shot and killed on the university’s Washington, DC, campus. The DC Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement this week that it had made…
Chai Brady
Ruadhán Jones
Peter Costello