Though almost all Covid restrictions have been lifted, there are still people being fined for violating them over a year ago. As reported in the Independent today, one 26 year old man has just been fined by Swords District Court. He was found guilty of travelling from Blanchardstown to Donabate beach with his girlfriend for […]
This is one of those stories that functions as an almost perfect Rorschach test: If you side with Donnelly here, chances are you’re not a fan of the church and would cheer almost anything said about them. Because there is literally no other reason to indulge this nonsense: “When you’re dealing with a deadly virus, […]
The Government have succeeded in keeping our Churches – not their Churches but our Churches – closed during Holy Week: a week on which our whole Christian faith pivots. It cannot be said too often that there was no medical reason to do so. It has been a repressive policy; and the misinformation and fear-mongering […]
Question: In what country in the world do the authorities consider it perfectly safe to queue up for a McDonalds drive-thru, and collect your happy meal, but too dangerous to queue up for communion after an online mass? Take a wild guess: The Archdiocese of Dublin has advised parishes and priests not to organise events […]
If you can remember that long ago, the only protesters defying Covid-19 lockdowns in the United States were small crowds of roughnecks from flyover country waving flags and brandishing placards at State capitals. Nonetheless, petty incidents like this still outraged bioethicists and public health experts. Writing in PennLive, a Pennsylvania blog, four of them, including the […]
People of faith have been reacting to a tweet by Shrewsbury Cathedral in Britain which spelled out what many practising Christians feel is unfair about the continued lockdown of churches even as most restrictions are lifted. “We can have an abortion, but not a baptism We can buy a car, but not a candle We […]
While Ireland plans to keep the ban on public religious ceremonies until July 20th, the Italian government has announced that celebrations in churches will resume from May 18th. After a long negotiation between the Bishops’ Conference (CEI) and State representatives, this week the approved protocol for public masses was presented in a joint briefing by […]
I will be the first one to hold up my hands and say I wanted a lockdown too. I used the #stayathome #staysafe #quaranteam hashtags that began floating around only a number of weeks ago. I bombarded friends of mine with messages regarding staying home and staying safe. I panic bought Vitamin C and other […]
The phrase ‘missing Mass’ used to refer to non-attendance at Sunday Mass and was a serious omission for any Catholic. If it was habitual it could lead to a call from the local priest. Today that would be represented as clerical policing rather than an act of pastoral outreach. In fact, in a homogeneous religious […]