A Dublin schoolgirl was among the tens of thousands who took to Dublin’s streets on Saturday for the annual Rally for Life. See pages 8 & 9. Photo: John McElroy
Flying the flag for protection of life
Month: July 2017
Peace-campaigner priest honoured
Passionist priest, Fr Gary Donegan CP, has received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) from the University of Ulster for his outstanding community work within Northern Ireland. Photo: Nigel McDowell/Ulster University
Religion should be taught outside schools
Dear Editor, Here in Ireland, up to relatively recently, children absorbed the faith of their parents in the home, where religion, in all its forms, was part of living. What happened in school was simply a reinforcement of that same religious ethos. In such a climate, it was only natural that the schools should prepare…
Bridging the poverty gap
“Despite the welcome economic improvements of recent times, we remain an unequal nation,” says the new National President of the Society of St Vincent de Paul. Along with overseeing the largest charity in Ireland, Kieran Stafford is a local businessman in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary where he resides with his wife, Mary, and two daughters. One…
Swimming is a vital life-saving skill
Mags Gargan
If there is one thing we’re not short of in Ireland, it’s water. As well as having over 4,600 miles of coastline, Ireland boasts of numerous lakes and rivers. Over the past few decades watersports have taken off in Ireland. The invention of the wetsuit made much of this possible in our cold climate. It…
Finding a friend in God
I grew up in a Catholic home with my parents, my two younger brothers and my younger sister. For most of my teenage years, my faith didn’t mean anything to me. I thought Mass was very boring and I didn’t see the point in going. I went every Sunday but only to please my parents.…
Inchoate desire… insane for the light
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Sometimes while praying the Psalms, I’m caught looking quite uncomfortably into a mirror reflecting back to me my own seeming dishonesty. For example, we pray these words in the Psalms: “My soul longs for you in the night. …like a deer that yearns for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you my God. …for…
Youthful web-spinner shines in riotous actioner
Aubrey Malone
School can be boring when you’d prefer to save the world than read books, right? So Peter Parker (Tom Holland) aka Spider-man, tends to be somewhat distracted in class, knowing just what he could do if the occasion called for it. Billionaire playboy Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) – his mentor – tries to persuade…
Some programmes more than a bit off
Brendan O’Regan
A few items last week were more than a bit off. On Tuesday of last week on Today with Sean O’Rourke, Cormac Ó hEadhra spoke to former US Navy Seal Robert O’Neill, the man who claims to have killed Osama Bin Laden. Needless to say I’m no Bin Laden fan, but the clinical description of…
Priests never thanked for professionalism
Fr Bernard Cotter Why is it that undertakers are nearly always thanked for their ‘professionalism’ while clergy are never praised in this way? I’m referring to those acknowledgement notices placed in newspapers some time after a funeral, which contain a kind of general ‘thank you’ to everyone who helped, but which usually name people whose…