World of Books These days we have little expectation of astonishing works of literature or scholarship from a bishop. They are all too busy with mere administration to have the mental energy to expend on scholarship or literature. It was not always thus. Look for instance at the writings of 19th-Century Irish bishops, such as…
“An inspiring head and some exacting inspection regulations can turn around a failing school”, writes Mary Kenny One of Education Minister Richard Bruton’s proposals – in removing what is called the “baptism barrier” from faith schools – is to base schools more on a neighbourhood model, so that a child has an entitlement to attend…
“Bruton set to pledge end of school ‘baptism barrier’”, read the headline in one newspaper on Monday. It was typical of the headlines in a number of news outlets. Reading those headlines you could be forgiven for thinking that Education Minister, Richard Bruton, has decided to altogether abolish the right of Catholic schools to admit…
Northern pro-lifers are determined to make the protection of unborn children a key issue in the North’s coming election. Northern Secretary James Brokenshire announced elections for a new Assembly on March 2, following the collapse of the Executive after the resignation of Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister and the refusal of Sinn Féin to…
Staff reporter A family who was advised to let their seriously-ill infant son die in hospital rather than bring him home, has spoken of the joy he gave them through 15 years of life with them after confounding doctors’ predictions. Seán Holland, who died last month, was given just two years to live when he…
Staff reporter Bishop Donal McKeown has said that British Prime Minister Teresa May’s insistence on pushing ahead with a so-called ‘hard Brexit’ may cause many people in the North to consider the future as part of a united Ireland. In a speech this week, Ms May indicated that she wanted to maintain the common travel…
Staff reporter President Michael D. Higgins has led tributes to Nobel peace prize winner John Hume as the veteran peacemaker turned 80 this week. President Higgins described Mr Hume as “the moral architect of an inclusive peace process” that delivered the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. The president said that Mr Hume – who turned…
The Nugents of Westmeath & Queen Elizabeth’s Irish Primer by Denis Casey (Four Courts Press, €9.95) The Nugent family trace their beginning to Gilbert de Nugent of Normandy, the 1st Baron of Delvin, who arrived in Ireland in the 12th Century. By the middle of the 16th Century they were well and truly Anglo-Irish. At…
With the Christmas decorations long gone and packed away until next December, the home can feel a little bare without some festive spark. And it’s a long wait before you can start making Easter decorations. January can be a miserably long month, especially when Spring is yet to arrive. But you can welcome Spring into…
Dear Editor, We sat watching Meryl Streep’s tearful reproof at the Golden Globe Awards: “Violence begets violence.” This was followed, on television, by the trailers of two forthcoming films from Hollywood, depicting the most brutal violence on screen. Perhaps her speech could have profitably been directed towards some of her own colleagues or towards some…
Peter Costello
Mary Kenny
David Quinn
Greg Daly
Erin Fox