Michael R. Heinlein As Catholics, we recognise that the holy Eucharist is the ‘source and summit’ of our faith. The innumerable gifts received in holy Communion draw us more closely to Christ. But there also are a variety of reasons why someone might not be able to receive sacramental holy Communion. Sometimes reception of holy…
Fr Shay Cullen It was a shocking and painful ‘no’ vote by the United States to veto a draft declaration at the United Nations (UN) Security Council recognising Palestine as a full member of the United Nations. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the US veto and said it was “unfair, unethical, and unjustified”. Some…
A friar at the Capuchin day centre was rushed to hospital today after he was stabbed in the head while volunteering at the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin.
Senator Rónán Mullen It’s a big year, electorally speaking. We’ve already had two referendums that proved revealing. We’ll have the local and European elections on June 7. And Taoiseach Simon Harris may yet go to the country this October – if this Government’s last budget is, as expected, of the giveaway variety, then Harris…
Reform isn’t enough to improve the UN Security Council, writes Michael Sanfey Earlier this month the British Foreign Secretary and his French counterpart co- authored an op-ed celebrating the 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale, a diplomatic agreement between the United Kingdom and France. “We have helped to forge a better world,” they wrote in…
The Christian blessing is more than a nice gesture, writes Bert Ghezzi I used to make the sign of the cross casually as a nice gesture for beginning and ending my prayers. More than a decade ago, probably nudged by the Holy Spirit, I began to take it more seriously. I began to sign…
Justin robinson OSB An Armenian flag fluttered atop a pile of rubble in the cool evening, a welcome respite from the khamsin storm which had oppressed Jerusalem with days of hot dusty clouds coming from the deserts of Arabia. Hundreds of people shared a delicious buffet meal in the shadow of the flag and…
Irish MEPS’ who this week voted to enshrine Abortion as a ‘right’ in the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights have been slammed and described as ‘going down a path of relentless disregard for preborn human life’. Patrick Murphy, who is Aontu’s candidate for Ireland South said, “The spectre of 12 out of 13 Irish MEP’s…
Michael Sanfey In a lecture delivered last month at the European University Institute in Florence, European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel referenced the importance of ‘creative destruction’, a concept associated with the Austrian political economist Joseph Schumpeter. It means that in a well-functioning system, productivity is boosted by the exit of inefficient…
Kamran Chaudhry Arif Masih still remembers the day he was left speechless after finding that tons of radishes on his smallholding had started withering last August. “At first, I thought the radishes were dying due to the August heat. But, I discovered someone had sprayed poisonous chemicals on them. The radishes died one…