Dear Editor, What are we to make of the cavalier approach of our parliamentarians to Bunreacht na hÉireann in the matter of the Eighth Amendment? The Attorney General has expressed her opinion that the legislation proposed is contrary to the Constitution and thus illegal. Would not the civilised thing to do be to tease the…
Dear Editor, Jean Vanier, founder of the L’Arche communities and a tireless advocate of the dignity of all people, especially the disabled, says in his book Our Life Together: “Each person, whatever his or her abilities, strengths or weaknesses, is important and sacred. They are a person loved by God and created for love. It…
Dear Editor, John Bruton (‘Brexit and the future of the European project’, IC 30/06/2016) hardly heeds David Cameron’s post-referendum remarks in Brussels. The latter mentions how mass migration swayed so many, yet your contributor’s article ignores the issue. Yours etc., Seán Bearnabhail, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.
In an act of inter-faith solidarity, four leading Cork clergy have jointly condemned an attack on a popular and prominent Muslim cleric. Imam Ihab Ahmed, leader of the Cork Mosque Foundation, was attacked around 11pm on June 29 while walking with his wife on the city’s Cathedral Street. He was pushed to the ground by…
A lack of vocations and a combination of deaths, illnesses, and retirements in the Diocese of Kerry have left five of the dioceses’ 53 parishes without resident priests. Ballyheigue and Duagh join Valentia Island, Tarbert, and Allihies in west Cork, in being being served by priests in nearby pastoral areas, with the effect that in…
A Catholic nursing home in Belgium has been fined for refusing to euthanise a resident in its care. The Huize Sint-Augustinus home was fined a nominal €6 by the court in Louvain after the family of an elderly woman took a case against the home’s opposition to their request for euthanasia under Belgian law. While…
Indian Archbishop rejects accusations against Mother Teresa An Indian archbishop has rejected a recent verbal attack on the memory of Mother Teresa launched by a radical politician and cleric. Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Jowai described as “rash comments” the denunciation of the famed nun by Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath, a member of parliament representing the hardline Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). During a…
The breakaway Society of St Pius X appears to have abandoned hopes of reuniting with the Vatican with a statement rejecting the need for recognition from Rome for its existence while voicing criticism of the Pope for “errors” in Church teaching. The statement, made in the name of Bishop Bernard Fellay, the current superior general…
In his 1975 ballad Thunder Road, Bruce Springsteen tells his imaginary paramour that she can either waste her summer “praying in vain for a saviour to rise from these streets,” or seize the realistic if flawed option in front of her, i.e. him. While no one probably would tout the Boss as an expert on the Middle…
The new presidency bodes ill for the Church, writes Paul Keenan
Greg Daly
Cathal Barry
Paul Keenan
John L. Allen Jr.