Pro-life TD to head Oireachtas committee on assisted suicide Kerry Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae has been appointed chair of the special Oireachtas Committee on assisted suicide and euthanasia. It was recommended in 2021 that the Committee be established to undertake an in-depth examination of the topic after an earlier piece of legislation, proposed by Gino…
I Judge No One: A Political Life of Jesus by David Lloyd Dusenbury (Hurst Publishers, £25.00/€30.50) Frank Litton The horrible costs of the Ukrainian war in human lives and material destruction are agreed. One expert analysis reports that an estimated 180,000 Russian soldiers, 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers, plus 30,000 civilians have been killed, putting it in…
Dear Editor, Starting off with a bang, the new bishop of Ossory Niall Coll said it would be a “dreadful mistake” to secularise Catholic or other faith-based schools [The Irish Catholic – January 26, 2022]. It is a blessing we have received a bishop of his calibre, who has extensive experience in education, and who…
New head for Vatican body overseeing selection of bishops Pope Francis has chosen Chicago-born Bishop Robert Prevost of Chiclayo, Peru, to succeed Canadian Cardinal Ouellet as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. The Vatican announced on January 30 the retirement of Cardinal Ouellet and the appointment…
God gave all of us gifts that can be put to use in service of our parishes, writes Lorene Hanley Duquin Today, parishioners are expected to feel a true sense of ownership in their parish. That means looking at your parish as more than just a place where you go to Mass. A parish can…
Following a rampage of a radical Jewish gang in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City on the evening of January 26, the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land called on political and religious authorities to bring civil and religious life in Jerusalem back to “greater serenity”. “This is only the latest…
The in-person Irish delegates to the European phase of the synod process will be joined by ten online delegates representing different lobby groups and evangelisation initiatives. Primate of All Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin will lead a delegation of four to the assembly in the Czech capital Prague from February 5-12 including Nicola Brady, Chairperson of…
A sacristan was killed and a priest wounded during a suspected terrorist attack January 25 on two Catholic churches in Spain. As reported by Europa Press, according to police sources, the sacristan of the Church of Our Lady of La Palma was murdered and the pastor of St Isidore Church was wounded. Both churches are…
L’Arche has released an independent report on its founder Jean Vanier, which finds that he belonged to a “sectarian group” with “distorted pseudo-mystical beliefs”. The independent commission established by L’Arche International found that at least 25 women “experienced sexual contact with Vanier which was part of a continuum of confusion, control and abuse” between 1950…
St Thomas Aquinas’ skull has arrived at the Dominican Convent of Toulouse in France, where it’s been placed in a new reliquary as the 700th anniversary of his canonisation is celebrated by the Church. The new reliquary was created by Augustin Frison-Roche and was blessed during a Mass on January 27. The Dominican order shared…