Those questioning Pope Francis are causing much disquiet, writes Michael W. Higgins Many of the 50% plus white male Catholic voters in the last US election who helped elect Donald Trump were not unaware that this was a president who would shake things up—big time. After all, that was a major part of his appeal.…
The voices led by the Catholic Church in the Philippines against the murderous anti-drug tactics of President Rodrigo Duterte gained an important boost last week. On March 2 the international rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) released the results of its own ‘sample study’ into the phenomenon of extrajudicial killings being laid at the door…
In a case of ‘better late than never’ President Donald Trump used the occasion of his first major speech to the US Congress to address the wave of anti-Semitism currently afflicting the United States. “Recent threats targeting Jewish community centres and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries…remind us that while we may be a nation divided on…
Dear Editor, Following the revelations last week that “significant quantities” of human remains had been discovered at the site of the former mother-and-baby home in Tuam, Co. Galway, one could almost hear the deafening noise of knuckle-cracking that resulted from the universal epidemic of hand-wringing that spread throughout the land. “How could this happen?” some…
All things considered, I believe that I grew up with a relatively healthy concept of God. The God of my youth, the God that I was catechised into, was not unduly punishing, arbitrary, or judgmental. He was omnipresent, so that all of our sins were noticed and noted, but, at the end of the day,…
Darragh McGann Like any audience, a priest has to know his congregation when delivering a homily, writes Darragh McGann For as long as I can remember I have heard people saying that Mass is boring, as an explanation or an excuse for not attending. I was an altar server for eight years and would often…
Pope considering trip to famine-struck South Sudan Pope Francis has revealed he is considering the possibility of an official trip to South Sudan. Days after he made a plea for the international community to respond to “a severe food crisis, which has hit the Horn of Africa region [and] condemns to death by starvation millions…
Dear Editor, Mary Kenny should be thanked for her musings on ‘Fr D’Arcy’s reflections on a parallel life’ (IC 23/02/2017), which have injected some reality into what seems an interminable drone in favour of married priests. Fr D’Arcy’s comment that he would have been a far better priest had he married is, of course, balderdash,…
There’s an axiom which says: Nothing feels better than virtue. There’s a deep truth here, but it has an underside. When we do good things, we feel good about ourselves. Virtue is indeed its own reward, and that’s good. However, feeling righteous can soon enough turn into feeling self-righteous. Nothing feels better than virtue; but…
Mags Gargan looks at simple recommendations for parents to keep children safer online Cyberbullying has been described as the “child-protection issue of our time” and it can be very difficult for parents to walk the fine line between allowing their children access to the benefits of the internet while protecting them from the dangers. In…
Paul Keenan
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Mags Gargan