Courtney McGrailDear Editor, For a long time, prior to the referendum on same-sex marriage, the media, for the greater part, engaged in a thoroughly biased promotional exercise. Time and again it was stated that some 80% of the Irish people would vote in favour. Not once did I hear these statistics questioned, but they should have…
Month: September 2015
Beware of ‘treachery’ at the synod
Dear Editor, As we approach next month’s Synod of Bishops on the family, one needs to be careful which side one chooses to take in all this. In relation to the Kasper proposal, Cardinal Kasper and others are putting forward a proposal for changes to allow divorced and ‘remarried’ Catholics to receive Holy Communion and…
Govt urged to wake up to homelessness ‘emergency’
Greg Daly70 new families need charities’ help every month
Resettlement not displacement was the driver
Dear Editor, Mary Kenny seems at sea with the details of the displacement of Germans from eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War and its aftermath (IC 17/9/15). Whereas many Germans and people of other nationalities fled red army advances towards the war’s end and immediately afterwards, the Allies decided to resettle…
The ‘Ask Consent’ campaign is an indictment of sexual ‘liberation’
David QuinnWe risk turning sex into a legal transaction, writes David Quinn
Parish ‘cluster mission’ to prepare for future Church
Cathal BarryAn upcoming ‘cluster mission’ in Galway is set to give parishioners a taste of what the future holds for the Church in Ireland. Glenamaddy and Williamson Parish Priest, Fr Paddy Mooney, said the mission will “give people a greater awareness of their need to travel to neighbouring parishes” for Mass in a time with fewer…
Discernment and vocation: another doubting Thomas
Vocation is not a test it is a call from God, writes Gavin Kerr
God encompasses and embodies all complexity
Fr Ronald RolheiserRecently, at an academic dinner, I was sitting across the table from a nuclear scientist. At one point, I asked him this question: Do you believe that there’s human life on other planets? His answer surprised me: “As a scientist, no, I don’t believe there’s human life on another planet. Scientifically, the odds are strongly…
Some flowers for St Thérèse of Lisieux
Erin FoxThe feast of St Thérèse of Lisieux is next week on October 1. St Thérèse was a Carmelite nun and is also known as the “little flower” which is why the rose is usually the associated symbol with her. Born in 1873, Thérèse Martin had a very short life, dying at the age of 24.…
Recent books in brief
One Wide Expanse by Michael Longley (UCD Press, €20 / £17) These writings from the Ireland Chair of Poetry, which Ulster poet Michael Longley held between 2007 and 2010, consists of three essays. They are derived from the annual lectures which he was required to give, aside from his teaching, and deal with different aspects…