Maria Edgeworth’s Letters from Ireland selected and edited by Valerie Pakenham (Lilliput Press, €40.00hb, €25.00pb) The landed gentry and the great houses of Ireland have not had a great reputation in general. But many of those for whom the traditional nationalist narrative has long sufficed, might well have their minds, if not changed, at least refined…
Information technology and social media aren’t my mother tongue. I’m a digital immigrant. I wasn’t born into the world of information technology but migrated into it, piece-meal. I first lived in some foreign territories. I was nine years old before I lived with electricity. I had seen it before; but neither our home, our school,…
Colm Fitzpatrick examines the value of marriage today Irish society has been transformed considerably in the last half-century or so: people are more likely to marry older; youth are more career-driven; and the likelihood of being able to afford and own a house is decreasing. All of these factors raise questions as to whether…
A conservative member of parliament has blocked a motion calling on the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to invite Pope Francis to apologise for the Church’s role in abuse at Indian residential schools. However, Charlie Angus, a member of parliament, said the motion would come up for debate and a vote in the coming weeks.…
A Parent’s Perspective “What’s abortion, Mammy?” is one question that many parents have been hearing over the past few weeks. With a referendum on abortion approaching rapidly, the arguments and passion around the subject are going to reach fever pitch leaving concerned adults struggling with how they should deal with it. Children are inevitably…
The Church paved the way for the republican victory in Ireland’s 1918 general election, writes Gabriel Doherty As turning points in Irish history go, the ‘conscription crisis’ that enveloped Ireland a century ago in the spring of 1918 was perhaps second only to the Easter Rising in terms of its impact upon public sentiment…
There is always a snake in the grass. A primitive, but crucial, part of the human mind is always alert for dangers. parents immediately discover a heightened sense of awareness of all the dangers that their new baby faces in the world. When we were expecting our first baby, I had a man over with…
Catholic majority in NI predicted Catholics could outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland by 2021, a leading academic has suggested. The 2011 official census figures put the Protestant population at 48 per cent and Catholics at 45 per cent, while more recent figures from 2016 show 44 per cent of working age adults are Catholic and 40 per cent Protestant. Paul Nolan, an independent researcher, best known for…
Personal Profile Chai Brady discusses the social justice work of an Irish friar A scuba-diving Franciscan friar who has fought against human trafficking and drug abuse all his life says sometimes being a true Christian means breaking the rules. Hailing from Ballygerdra, Co. Kilkenny, Fr Seán Cassin (69) now works as the CEO of the…
Disappointment is a fact of life for nearly everyone who lives on this planet. It’s simply part of the human condition. We are occasionally disappointed in friends and family, and by people in the other circles in which we move — including our parish. Priests can be disappointed when the parish they are moved to…
Peter Costello
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Colm Fitzpatrick
Maria Byrne
Chai Brady