Suspect confesses to Bishop O’Connell murder

Carlos Medina, the husband of Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell’s housekeeper, has admitted to murdering the bishop, the Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón has said. “He admitted that he had done the killing and we believe we recovered the weapon that they were using, and we have other evidence from the bed, certain…

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Sidelights on the Skelligs I

An excerpt from Patrick Weston Joyce, English as We Speak it in Ireland (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1910), pages 324-325.   In his essay on the “Skellig Lists” in Irish folk life contributor Shane Lehane overlooks this interesting and important notice of the custom by the Victorian scholar of all things Irish, Patrick Weston…

In Brief

Petition for release of Nicaraguan bishop given to embassy in Mexico The Actívate and Solidart platforms have delivered a petition with 11,000 signatures to the Nicaraguan embassy in Mexico City condemning the human rights violations committed by dictator President Daniel Ortega and demanding the release of the Bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez. Members of both…

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Is the synod a con job?

Dear Editor, I have only recently become familiar, via a conversation with one of my granddaughters, with the concept of gaslighting. Gaslighting is characterised as a form of psychological manipulation in which a dominant party attempts to sow self-doubt and confusion in the mind of someone else. Typically, gaslighters are seeking to gain power and…

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In Short

Prayers for peace needed this Lent – Archbishop Martin Prayers, charity and sacrifice for peace and refugees are needed this Lent, Archbishop Eamon Martin said on Ash Wednesday, February 22. The world has experienced death and suffering on a large scale in the last year, the Primate of All-Ireland said in a statement. “I encourage…

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Vatican Roundup

Newly-discovered asteroid named after a pope The Vatican Observatory announced the naming of four newly-discovered asteroids after notable Catholics, including Pope Gregory XIII, who began the tradition of papal astronomers and observatories. Christopher Graney, a scientist at the Vatican Observatory, said in a press release that the Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN) of…

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