Jenna Marie Cooper Q: I always thought the end of the Christmas season came with Epiphany and the arrival of the Magi. A priest recently said the season doesn’t end until a week later with the Baptism of the Lord. What has the Baptism of the adult Jesus got to do with Bethlehem? If…
It’s been pleasing to see a revival in the old Irish tradition of celebrating January 6 as ‘Nollaig na mBan’, the ‘women’s Christmas’. Although it had been a country tradition, I don’t think it was very widely observed in Dublin, where January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany was known, traditionally, as ‘Little Christmas’. The…
Many parishes across Ireland saw packed churches this Christmas as people turned out in droves to celebrate the birth of Christ. This followed calls from priests and prelates across the country in early December for people to use the festive period to encourage their friends and neighbours who have been away from the sacraments, to…
“Patience and a willingness to listen” are needed more than 25 years after the Good Friday agreement in the North in order to build a shared future, the Catholic and Church of Ireland archbishops have said in a joint message.
President Michael D. Higgins has echoed Pope Francis warning against the “globalisation of indifference” in his message for Christmas 2023. In his message, the President reflected on growing global tensions due to wars in the Holy Land and Ukraine, as well as the dangers of the climate crisis. “We think in particular of all of…
As Catholics, we know that, at Christmas, we’re heralding the inauguration of a peace that the world cannot give. Throughout Advent we await the coming of the Messiah, and then on that glorious day, he comes among us in the gentlest of forms; a vulnerable, newborn baby.
Every Christmas, a concept at the heart of the season is the birth of Christ as Saviour. ‘Christ the Saviour is born’ we sing in the carol Silent Night; ‘Saviour’s Day’ warbled Cliff Richard and on Christmas night.
The Christmas carol is a truly egalitarian tradition, Dr Andrew Gant tells Ruadhán Jones Tracing the history of the Christmas carol is a rather futile exercise, but as Dr Andrew Gant’s new book shows, it can be a lot of fun. Drawing from a wide array of folk, ecclesial and national traditions, the carol is…
The View Christmas is becoming two separate feasts: for Christians it is the feast of the Nativity, the time when we remember and celebrate the birth of the Christchild in Bethlehem, with all that followed right up to the moment of the crucifixion and the resurrection; for others it is an unidentified festival – a…
The Church offers us a richer way to celebrate Christmas, writes Amy Welborn For Catholics, great feasts like Christmas don’t come at us out of the blue: In the secular world, ‘Christmas’ seems to start in October! However, our approach to this holiday as Catholics must be different, and it can be. We can put…
Mary Kenny
Chai Brady
Ruadhán Jones
Nuala O’Loan