With the announcement that persecuted Christian Asia Bibi is to be released from Pakistan in a matter of weeks, a prominent human rights charity has said there should be no assumptions made about her safety until she is in a secure country. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan told journalists last week that Ms Bibi, who…
Priests and people in the Diocese of Ossory need to take ownership of local pastoral needs to ensure parishes face the future in a healthy and dynamic way, Bishop Dermot Farrell has said. Speaking to The Irish Catholic about his pastoral letter ‘A Pathway for our Parishes’, Bishop Farrell said change is already afoot and…
Following a huge increase in anti-Semitic attacks in France and Britain’s Labour Party embroilment in anti-Semitism, Ireland’s Jewish community are “horrified” but relieved this is not the case here, but warn criticism of Israel can shadow or morph into racism. A February government report in France revealed a 74% rise in anti-Semitic incidents, increasing from…
The French bishops’ conference has condemned rising anti-Semitism in the country, as official data showed a massive increase of attacks, prompting new government measures. The conference president, Archbishop Georges Pontier of Marseille, wrote to France’s chief rabbi, Haim Korsia. “Attacks from seemingly religious motives on our fellow citizens are unacceptable; we stand beside you in…
It seems like IC readers are tight-lipped when it comes to spreading rumours or hearsay, given that most believe that gossip is wrong. On the newspaper’s Facebook page, online users were asked: Pope Francis has denounced gossip as a “form of terrorism”. Is he right, or is gossip just a bit of harmless fun so…
Families are “scared” of being intimidated and forced out of their homes by paramilitary groups, a well-known priest and peace campaigner has said. Fr Gary Donegan, who is best known for his peacebuilding work in North Belfast’s Ardoyne area, said that paramilitaries who “are involved in activities that are very questionable” are policing their own…
Each week we publish a selection of comments from The Irish Catholic Facebook page. Should Ireland offer asylum to Asia Bibi? Her family needs somewhere safe to recover from the ordeal they have all been through. It would also be a recognition that Christians are persecuted and need refuge. – Bairbre Cahill Can’t see…
In recent years, the people have been called to the polls with increasing frequency, both to vote in elections and in constitutional referendums. For the health of democracy and the encouragement of civic duty, people should only be called to the polls when really necessary. The biggest argument against the referendum to take the reference…
It’s a question almost as old as Christianity itself, and given that parishioners globally have some personal experience of it, it is certainly one worth answering: How long should a homily be? This question has sparked discussion this week after Pope Francis told a gathering of 10,000 over the weekend in Italy that the homily…
The future of the Church in Ireland rests in the hands of its community of believers who must decide where it should be going, Dublin’s Archbishop has said. Speaking in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral on Sunday, Dr Diarmuid Martin said that one challenge which the Church in Ireland faces is that of “discerning where the essentials…
Greg Daly
Chai Brady
Colm Fitzpatrick
Dr Martin Mansergh