Dear Editor, In George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four world the bandwagon effect has made people so timid that all enrol for the brainwashing programmers; nobody wants to incur the sanctions of ‘Big Brother’. In the real world many hide their firmly held beliefs and give way before public opinion. By not daring to speak the truth…
American order mourns loss of Irish sister Sr Mary O’Mahony OSF (formerly Sister Mary Cornelia) died in Assisi House on Sunday, December 10, aged 91. She had been a professed member of the Sisters of St Francis of Philadelphia for 72 years. Sr Mary is predeceased by her sister, Sr Nora O’Mahony, who was also…
Michael R. Heinlein Legendary singer Daniel O’Donnell readily admits that he doesn’t write many songs. But two that he has written came to him almost as inspired works when he was on pilgrimage in 2002. “When I went to Medjugorje, I didn’t intend to write songs,” Mr O’Donnell told OSV News. “I just felt I…
In just five years, we will mark the bicentenary of Catholic emancipation. Four years after that, in 2032, it will be 1,600 years since St Patrick’s mission to convert the Irish to Christianity. Catholic emancipation, of course, marked a turning point in the fortunes of Irish Catholicism after centuries of brutal persecution and repression by…
Looking back on the year just ended, I had a whimsical notion to reflect for a change on what we rarely if ever see in the broadcast media. And if I appear to be complaining too much, check out my Review of the Year from the December 21 edition for its positivity! It’s so rare…
A new deal on the State files annual release This year the reports on the State files’ annual release, which has become very much a fixture of the turnover between Christmas and the New Year, will take a different form as it appears in the pages of the papers and in other media. Rather than…
I had known that the parish church in Tubbercurry turned 90 in 2023. I wasn’t sure of the date but had mentioned it at a pastoral council meeting and thought we should mark the event as the year was coming to a close. I called Bishop Paul and asked if he might be free to…
Deacon Greg Kandra Is 60:1-6 Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13 Eph 3:2-a, 5-6 Mt 2:1-12 On a Sunday that centres on discovery, revelation, and manifestation – the very definition of ‘Epiphany’ – one of the most important discoveries for the magi (and for us!) comes at the very end of this week’s Gospel. A…
Michael Kelly
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello