In light of concerns about the new coronavirus, churches are ordering boxes filled with hundreds of prepackaged Communion cups and wafers. Read more
Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day parade has been cancelled due to fears over the spread of coronavirus. Authorities had initially insisted that the festivities — which mark St. Patrick bringing Christianity to Ireland in 432 — would go ahead, but bowed to pressure from doctors March 9 and announced the cancellation. Read more
A 22-year-old man became the first person in recorded Irish history to sustain a snake bite, roughly 1,600 years after St. Patrick is said to have banished all serpents from that nation. Catholic tradition has it that St. Patrick drove them all off a cliff in the 5th century. Read more
Megan Westra a progressive Christian speaker and seminary student has launched an email devotional called “Lent-ish,” urging her readers to look on the bright side of Lent. Read more
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days when Catholics in New Zealand abstain from eating meat. Some people in the Catholic community worldwide are debating whether food made to look and taste like meat is allowed on days of abstinence. Read more
The present system of calculating the leap year was designed around fixing the date of Easter. While the concept of the leap year has been around since ancient times – the ancient Jewish calendar added a leap month every 19 years for example – the current calendar year has its origins in the Catholic Church. Read more
After talking to the young man Gina Christian says: “I could only marvel at how closely the young man resembled popular depictions of Jesus. The long curls and beard; the large, expressive eyes; the earnest demeanour — all swirled into a nagging possibility at that late hour in the chapel: ‘Lord, is it really You?’” Read more
Ben Hart says no one can prove he’s not God. Hart won a four-year legal battle and was able to pick up the long-awaited “Im God” licence plate and place it on the back of his Jeep. Read more
The man who shot Pope John Paul II, Mehmet Ali Agca says he is relieved that his victim did not die. “It was destiny. And it was destiny he survived. I am very glad he didn’t die. “The Pope became like a brother to me. When he died [in 2005] I felt like my brother Read more