2,000 Queen’s University Belfast students unable to return home for Christmas because of the pandemic are set to receive a care package, thanks to the university’s Catholic chaplaincy and the efforts of local businesses and charities. The operation to distribute the packs launched into action last week, prepared by a team of 20 student volunteers…
A Brazilian nun who has advanced to the finals of TV cookery show MasterChef said she received “divine help” and was praying the entire time she was cooking. She said it was the divine help which directed her attention to the fact that the shrimp she was supposed to cook were not deveined. “If I…
Personal Profile Fr Ger Dunne is the man at the helm of the Catholic Chaplaincy in University College Cork. A Dominican, he appreciates the values a university and its culture engenders in students. “I’m always inspired by the goodness of students and they don’t get enough credit, to my mind, for their altruistic nature, I…
Tribute was paid to Sr Ann Thomas on Liveline earlier this week, as Ger Smith told of her care for himself and his siblings in Ballymun after their mother was taken into care for Schizophrenia. Mr Smith related how himself and his siblings were left in a flat in Ballymun, with his brother being the…
The age of social media has given heftier weight to the old saying about how a lie can travel around the world before the truth has put its shoes on. Prime example Here in Ireland, we were given a prime example of this when it was reported that female students at a Catholic school in…
Personal Profile While the modern offices of Citibank and the humble carpentry workshop of Christ seem to many as though they couldn’t be further apart, Al Byrne informs me that they are really one and the same place, for one trying to live in imitation of Christ. “I see that through work, we can participate…
In his Red Wednesday reflection, Archbishop Eamon Martin took the opportunity to highlight the “unjust detention” of Christians around the world, meditating first on the example of St Oliver Plunkett: “The thousands of pilgrims who visit the national shrine of Saint Oliver Plunkett, at Saint Peter’s Church in Drogheda, cannot fail to notice a heavy…
A pro-life undergraduate student in a midwife program has received an apology and payout after she faced suspension. The Daily Telegraph reported November 24 that Julia Rynkiewicz, a 25-year-old Catholic, had reached a settlement with the University of Nottingham in the U.K. She was blocked from entering her program’s hospital placement phase after the university learned…
Between 30,000 and 40,000 people a day continue to watch Mass on television, according to Roger Childs, RTÉ’s Senior Production Executive and Commissioning Editor of religious content. The weekday Masses on the news channel continue to attract large audiences, particularly among whose aged over 55. Since the start of August, the lowest daily audience was…
A decision by a student committee at Dublin’s Trinity College to warn a Catholic society to stop praying “would seem to fly in the face of Trinity’s avowed commitment to diversity,” according to a well-known barrister and Catholic commentator. The Irish Catholic reported earlier this month that Trinity’s Central Societies Committee (CSC) warned the Laurentian…