A euthanasia group was behind Britain’s commission on assisted suicide, writes Greg Daly A.S. Byatt caused a stir some years back when she publicly disparaged the phenomenal success of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, describing them as little more than a comfortable patchwork of clichés, unworthy of comparison with the writings of such fantasists…
Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley on the 2002 Boston sex-abuse scandal and what Ireland might learn A decade ago, the Boston clergy sexual abuse crisis engulfed the archdiocese. Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley was named Archbishop of Boston in 2003. He replaced Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in 2002. In 2010, when the Church in Ireland…
Pope picks US priest as new Irish Papal Nuncio Pope Benedict XVI has tapped New Yorker Msgr Charlie Brown to be the new Papal Nuncio to Ireland according to sources in the Department of Foreign Affairs. It is a significant move and the first native English-speaker to be appointed the Pope’s representative in Ireland since…
The future of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom is to be decided on December 16. The body, a federally funded commission which advocates for religious freedom and monitors religious abuses globally has been targeted as America attempts to reduce its trillion dollar deficit. When the commission’s funding came due for re-approval in late…
Michael Kelly meets Dr Patrick McDevitt, the passionate new president of Dubin’s All Hallows College Dublin’s All Hallows College will next year celebrate 170 years of existence. Nestled in the city’s Drumcondra suburb the college has undergone a considerable transformation since its establishment in 1842 as a seminary to train young Irishmen for the priesthood.…
The Pope has called on world leaders to be courageous and ethical in their responsibilities to their people. Speaking during his November 18-20 visit to the African nation of Benin, the Pontiff urged leaders: ‘Do not deprive your peoples of hope! Do not cut them off from their future by mutilating their present! ‘Adopt a…
That much-admired broadcaster, Olivia O’Leary, has been telling us how she will celebrate the faith side of Christmas: not attending a ‘Roman Catholic Church’, because she gave all that up two years ago, but at St Patrick’s Anglican Cathedral in Dublin, where the carols are wonderful, and the lessons uplifting, and she can feel her…
A new committee is seeking memories of the famed council, writes Cindy Wooden With a view toward the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, a pontifical committee has launched a worldwide treasure hunt. Many of the more than 2,800 cardinals and bishops who participated in all or part of the 1962-65…
Chernobyl Children International (CCI) launched its annual Christmas gift campaign last week, appealing for support from the Irish public to help light up the lives of children in need. The CCI is the leading United Nations NGO accredited organisation working in Belarus, Ukraine and Western Russia. The organisation has raised over €90m in aid…
The former Israeli ambassador to Egypt offers his perspective on Egypt’s elections to Paul Keenan The earliest election results for Egypt came through last week as The Irish Catholic met with Israel’s former (2005-2010) ambassador to Cairo, Shalom Cohen. Inevitably, the scheduled interview turned towards that subject, and the past, present and future of the…