Fr Ronald RolheiserThis is not a good time to be a Muslim in the Western world. As the violence perpetrated by radical Islamic groups such as ISIS, Al Qaeda and Boko Haram becomes more and more prevalent, huge numbers of people are becoming paranoid about and even openly hostile towards the Islam religion, seeing all Muslims as…
Month: November 2015
The Catholic Church does not support corporal punishment
Courtney McGrailDear Editor, Mary McAleese has many welcome things to say in her interview (IC 12/11/2015). However, she would appear to be in error in the matter of corporal punishment of chwildren. You report her as saying in the interview, “I have raised the Church’s support for corporal punishment of children which is set out in…
Religion being banished from all our screens
David QuinnA new ‘secular prudery’ wants to ban religion from public view, writes David Quinn
When facing bad news, involve the whole family
Maria ByrneA Parent’s Perspective
‘Renounce our own violence’ – wisdom from a fresh grave
In the aftermath of René Girard’s death, websites poring over the Catholic intellectual’s work have been struck time and again by its timeliness. A patheos.com piece by Artur Rosman at ‘Cosmos in the Lost’, for instance, is getting a lot of traction. Addressing the issue of assisted suicide, Rosman quotes Girard as saying “The experience…
Athy bids farewell to Dominicans
Members of the Dominican order lead a candlelight procession through Athy, Co. Kildare after a farewell Mass in St Dominick’s Church attended by nearly 1,000 people to mark the order withdrawing from the town. This is the first of five closures announced by the Dominicans last year and the church will be converted into a…
Dad’s Diary
Emilia’s big blue eyes shone above her joyful toothy grin as she trundled forward clumsily – walking, for the very first time. Her hands were held up in an “I surrender” posture as she merrily stumbled back and forth between her mother and I, to shrieks of delight and applause from her older siblings. She…
After Paris: violence and the human condition
We can’t allow different agendas to deflect from the deeper questions about violence, writes Dr Con Casey
Leading by example
Dear Editor, Regarding Catholics in second marriages etc. not receiving the Eucharist but identifying themselves as public sinners (sexual sinners) by crossing their arms before the priest, let us introduce a new practise alongside this. Let all celebrants at Mass who are in a current sexual relationship, heterosexual or otherwise, refuse, in public, to take…
There can be no more minimising of the abomination of abuse
Dear Editor, I have some concerns upon reading Phil Lawler’s review of the film Spotlight in his report ‘A feisty reporter’s book corrects for the Hollywood bias of Spotlight’ (IC 19/11/2015). Whatever about the agenda and hypocrisy of The Boston Globe there can be no lessening of the reality that the leadership of the Catholic…