A press conference in the Polish capital of Warsaw last week unveiled the Church in Poland 2023 report, which paints a troubling picture for the nation’s Catholics.
Faithful few: Report reveals young Poles abandoning the Church
Month: October 2023
Pure in Heart offers ‘alternate vision’ for SPHE changes
Catholic relationships and sexuality education organisation Pure in Heart is offering an open day in an effort to address parents’ concerns relating to the new SPHE syllabus.
UN peacekeeping shows weak results for Congo – bishop
Ruadhán Jones
Even though the UN troops have been in the country for more than two decades aiming to bring peace and stability, a Congolese archbishop said the mission’s results are “too weak and too little”.
St Ignatius ‘the everyday mystic’
Peter Costello
Ignatius Loyola Christian Mystic, by Brian O’Leary (Messenger Books €19.95/ £18.95) Ignatius and his Spiritual Exercises have been explored by readers since they were written, and have proved over the centuries to be immensely influential. The idea of ‘composition of place’ can even be traced, so I believe, in the earliest impulses to write…
Does insufficient faith keep us from being healed?
Jenna Marie Cooper Q: When I was Evangelical, we were told Jesus wanted to heal us, every time; we need only ask “in his name”. If we weren’t healed it was because we lacked sufficient faith to “claim it”. I remember my Catholic Grandma saying though, that sometimes God heals and sometimes not, and…
Reflecting on World Youth Day’s renewal of mission
World Youth Day (WYD) was the idea of St John Paul II more than 30 years ago. It was a chance for the pope to have a meaningful encounter with young people and more importantly, for the young people to meet Jesus Christ in the midst of the Church.
Our deepest loneliness
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Harvard psychologist Robert Coles, in describing the French mystic Simone Weil, once suggested that what she really suffered from and what motivated her life was her moral loneliness. What is that? Moral loneliness is what we experience when we ache for moral affinity, that is, for a soulmate, for someone who meets us, understands, and…
A visit to the Palace of Westminster
A further recollection from an active literary life A most memorable day in my life as a writer was my visit to the Palace of Westminster, the home of the British Parliament. This was occasioned by the publication in 1973 of my book Listowel and its Vicinity, which included an account of the Hare…
News in brief
Aontú is hosting its Ard Fheis on Saturday, October 7, as recent polls suggest the party is seeing a steady increase in support.
Foreign news in brief
The Mexican Bishops’ Conference (CEM) announced the launch of a ‘Citizen Accord for Peace’, which aims to “overcome the dynamics of violence and destruction of the social fabric” in the country.