It is in the nature of politics that politicians feel obliged to say that they love elections, and always welcome an opportunity for the people to have their say. The reality is, of course, that politicians mostly dread elections because it might herald the day when the magic dies. With just over three weeks to…
Chai Brady and Theo McDonald Ireland’s immigration issue could turn into a good news story if managed correctly, according to the Chair of Christian Charity Tiglin Aubrey McCarthy. The residential and rehabilitation centre is currently offering services for refugees and migrants at The Light House on Pearse Street, close to where migrants had pitched hundreds of tents…
Anthony Hopkins who played Pope Benedict XVI in the Oscars nominee The Two Popes (2019), will play famous Baroque composer George Frideric Handel in a new biopic. The story will follow Handel during the summer of 1741 when he wrote the choral work Messiah. The oratorio was premiered in Dublin on April 13, 1742, and includes…
Veritas Communications is in discussions with a number of potential buyers and part-buyers since it announced its wind-down by the end of the year. The announcement by the company which is owned by the Catholic bishops was made in February and it is believed that since then the company has been inundated with expressions of…
Speaking in response to the verdict made by Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal last week, overruling a previous judgment by the High Court which characterised religious education in the North as not being sufficiently “objective” or “critical”, Aontú Deputy Leader, teacher and advocate for Faith-based education Gemma Brolly said she welcomed the news but there…
In the wake of the brutal slaying of three police officers in Chile, an act that shocked the conscience of the South American nation, the country’s Catholic bishops stressed the themes of violence and public fear in an April 30 meeting with Chilean President Gabriel Boric. Archbishop René Rebolledo of La Serena, who heads the…
Addressing the annual meeting of the Joint Managerial Body, the umbrella organisation for faith-based secondary schools in Ireland, Professor Eamonn Conway of the University of Notre Dame Australia said that three out of ten teachers under 29 years of age report not “witnessing” to Catholic ethos at all or doing so only to a limited…
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a new report last week highlighting the countries with the worst religious persecution in the world. This year, the countries topping USCIRF’s list of the world’s most egregious religious freedom violators were Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,…
For the first time, an Arab Christian woman has been elected as the rector of an Israeli university — the University of Haifa. The announcement of Professor Mouna Maroun’s appointment was made earlier in April amid tensions with Iran and while anti-Israel protests were mounting at universities around the world. Ms Maroun belongs to the…
If you were to boil down the vision for a renewed ‘synodal’ Church in Ireland to one key aim, it would be listening. True listening means treating each person as an individual beloved by God, who has called each by name. That may sound pious, but it requires courage as well as humility, particularly when…
