Cardinal Kurt Koch January 5 and 6 marked the 60th anniversary of the meeting in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras. It was the first meeting between a pope and an ecumenical patriarch since the one between Pope Eugene IV and Patriarch Joseph II during the Council of Ferrara (1438-1439). This important…
Fr Patrick Briscoe OP Sometimes you hope to be wrong. For example: A good friend that I made in college seminary discerned out of formation and began to pursue a relationship with a young woman. I didn’t think they were a match. I told him as much. (Graciously, he did not end our friendship…
Jenna Marie Cooper Q: Our daughter has totally given up going to church because of the relentless use of incense at each Mass. It doesn’t bother me but I do notice a lot of people in the congregation that obviously have problems with it. Since it causes breathing difficulties for many people is it…
The Irish Synodal Pathway Steering Committee has urged Church organisations to become involved in the faith development of Catholics and explore what they might have to offer in terms of training and skills development in the future. The call forms part of the recommendations submitted by the Steering Committee in its latest report ‘What does…
Thomas O’Loughlin Gerald O’Donovan: A Life. 1871-1942, by John F. Ryan (Liverpool University Press, £95.00) This book is, to my knowledge, the first full length biography of that most complex character of the late-19th and early 20th Century, Gerald O’Donovan, who is now best remembered for his first novel: Father Ralph, published in April 1913,…
Six nuns from the Congregation of the Sisters of St Anne were kidnapped January 19 while traveling on a bus in the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, according to the Haitian Conference of Religious. Other passengers on the bus also were taken in the abduction, the conference said in a statement. “These many kidnappings fill the consecrated…
Doubts from members of the Oireachtas means Abortion Review recommendations face obstacles, writes Eilis Mulroy It’s hugely significant that members of the Oireachtas Health Committee have expressed doubts about the content of the Three Year Review Report on Ireland’s abortion law. After the Review report last year recommended wide-ranging changes to the abortion legislation, the…
In a new attack against the Catholic Church and other Christians in Nicaragua, the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, has cancelled the legal personhood of several religious congregations and evangelical groups. On January 16, the Ministry of the Interior published in the official government newspaper La Gaceta the…
Bishop Alan McGuckian of Raphoe wrote to Justice Minister Helen McEntee criticising policy that sees some immigrants unable to bring family members to Ireland as they earn less than €30,000. People outside the European Economic Area do not have the same entitlements regarding bringing family to Ireland, with one of the conditions being the salary…
Luca Attanasio This is the theme of the residential meeting which took place in November 22 to 24 at the “Fraterna Domus” Spirituality House in Sacrofano (Rome), organised by the executive councils of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) and the Union of Superiors General (USG). The event, which saw the participation of over…