The referendum is in reality about abortion on demand, writes David Quinn This abortion referendum is not primarily about the hard cases such as rape and ‘fatal foetal abnormality’. Under the planned law, the vast majority of abortions will take place on the healthy babies or healthy women. That is what we are really…
Health Minister Simon Harris is telling “overt and blatant lies” about proposed abortion legislation, Save the 8th has said. Interviewed by the Sunday Times, Mr Harris said under proposed legislation there will not be “unlimited abortion up to birth in cases of life-limiting conditions”. Adding that the published heads of the bill do not contain…
The View Martin Mansergh A wisely governed country strives to maintain social cohesion, particularly when it is under strain. Sometimes it is about how difficult and divisive decisions are taken. The experience of civil war over the Treaty and the limits of parliamentary authority contributed to a provision for referendums in the 1937 Constitution…
Bishop John Keenan of Paisley has criticised a video on homophobia posted by BBC Scotland in which the Eucharist is parodied, being said to “taste like cardboard” and “smell like hate”. The video ‘This is how homophobia feels in 2018’ was posted on April 9 on the Facebook page of BBC The Social, a project…
The president of the body that represents Catholic second level schools has described as “worrying and unwelcome” Department of Education guidelines that insist that schools must provide alternatives for students who do not wish to participate in religious education. While the circular applies only to Education and Training Board and community schools, Fr Paul Connell…
Journeying in Faith: A Walk with Christ by Cecil Hyland (Church of Ireland Publishing, €12.50) This book is something of a profession of Christian faith, in all its aspects, which Canon Cecil Hyland distils the experience he garnered from a variety of ministries in the Church of Ireland. Like John Bunyan’s Pilgrim he has “earned the…
Retired bishop Colm O’Reilly has denied claims that he swore a man who says he was Ann Lovett’s boyfriend to silence regarding letters she allegedly left behind. The reaction came after a 51-year-old man told the Irish Times that he was her former boyfriend. Ann died after giving birth to a stillborn boy at a…
For more than 50 years, the writings of retired Pope Benedict XVI on the relationship between Faith and politics have insisted that the measure of human freedom is the extent to which each person acknowledges being dependent on the love of God, Pope Francis wrote. The future Pope’s “direct experience of Nazi totalitarianism led him…
A prominent Irish priest has criticised remarks made by a DUP founder concerning Protestant church leaders’ welcome of a papal visit to the North of Ireland this August. The criticism comes after Wallace Thompson, secretary of the Evangelical Protestant Society, told the Belfast Newsletter that a visit to the North by Pope Francis for the…
The ill-judged intervention strengthens the ‘Yes’ side, writes Fr Bill Kemmy It is not possible to let the recent media statement issued by the leadership of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) on the upcoming referendum on the Eight Amendment to go unchallenged. Very briefly, I want to focus on the content and the impact of…
David Quinn
Greg Daly
Chai Brady