The world’s most famous footballer Cristiano Ronaldo sent a signal when he made the sign of the cross after scoring a goal while playing for his new Saudi Arabian club, Al-Nassr. Ronaldo’s public profession of Christian faith comes as no surprise, as he’s spoken openly about his faith on previous occasions, but the gesture was…
Once again, reputation protection was deemed more important than victims and survivors, writes David Quinn This week, nurse Lucy Letby found out that she will spend the rest of her life behind bars. She was found guilty of the murder of seven babies in her care at the Countess of Chester hospital in Britain. She…
Scott Richert A decade or more ago, I went to Confession one Saturday afternoon. Like many other priests, the particular confessor who heard my confession that day frequently defaulted to three Hail Marys as the standard penance that he assigned. But not that day. Whether led by something I had confessed or by his own…
A new CEO has been announced for the body that advocates on behalf of the Catholic maintained schools sector in the North of Ireland. It was announced on Monday that Eve Bremner would take the reins of the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS). Ms Bremner was assistant director in the Education Authority (EA) with…
Jaymie Stuart Wolfe How we live our lives is substantially different from how our parents and grandparents lived theirs. We no longer need to wait a whole week for the next episode of a favourite TV show; we can watch all five seasons in a single binge. We don’t have to buy tickets or drive…
Rightfully deplored sins in the Church’s past have driven many into irrationality in the present, writes Jason Osborne Being both a Catholic and a journalist, I cannot help but notice the surging anti-Catholic sentiment sweeping Ireland at the moment. You don’t have to look far to see it, or strain your ears too hard to…
Thomas McCarthy Testament, Micheal O’Siadhail (Baylor University Press, $24.99/ €22.99; distributed in Europe by Eurospan, email: direct.orders@marston.co.uk) In the Irish poetry world Micheal O’Siadhail has been a writer of towering brilliance for over 40 years. A life dedicated to language and ethics has seen him study in great depth both the structure of the…
Cindy Wooden Pope Francis continually calls Catholics to go to the “peripheries,” and that is exactly what he will do August 31 when he boards a plane to Mongolia. Bordering both Russia and China, Mongolia is one of the few countries St John Paul II did not manage to visit, although plans were well underway…
Police in the North of Ireland are investigating an alleged sectarian hate crime that occurred at an Apprentice Boys march earlier this month. The PSNI confirmed to The Irish Catholic that derogatory remarks shouted about the Pope by loyalists marching through Derry – to mark the anniversary of the ending of the Siege of Derry…
Jenna Marie Cooper Q: My new parish priest’s wife died before he became a priest. He sometimes even talks about his grandchildren during the homily. Why is this allowed? He obviously wasn’t always celibate, and I thought priests had to be celibate? A: Latin (a.k.a. “Roman”) Catholic priests are indeed expected to be celibate.…
David Quinn
Chai Brady