Chilean prelates guilty of concealing abuse must be held to account for their actions, and cannot simply be allowed to “resign and walk away”, leading child protection campaigner Marie Collins has said. Noting how Chile’s entire hierarchy has offered to resign following an investigation into clerical abuse and cover-up in the South American country, Mrs…
Ireland’s Green Larder by Margaret Hickey (Unbound Publishing, £20 / €22; for copies contact support@unbound.com) Peter Hegarty Historically we haven’t been particular about our food in this country. Food writer Margaret Hickey tells us that our forebears feasted on squirrels, foxes, pigeons, and swans. We were once even partial to porpoise. Her engrossing book leaves the…
Mourning the deaths of protesters in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the Vatican’s observer at UN agencies in Geneva urged people on both sides to let “wisdom and prudence prevail”. Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic spoke at a special session of the UN Human Rights Council dedicated to discussing “the deteriorating human rights situation in the…
Former Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan has appealed for Pope Francis to visit the North during his trip to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families this summer, saying he could bring ‘healing’ to the region. Her suggestion, however, met with a cool reaction, with Vatican officials seemingly feeling it would be difficult to include a…
Weddings are becoming more expensive and lavish, writes Colm Fitzpatrick The notion of marriage often evokes thoughts of togetherness, love and family but now more than ever the financial costs of weddings are playing a central role in a couple’s decision to postpone it. Weddings nowadays are notoriously expensive, with couples willing to splash…
Late prelate’s care for poor and marginalised will be greatly missed, writes Chai Brady The Primate of All-Ireland has honoured the late bishop of Elphin saying he lived a life of “commitment, fidelity, service and love for the people”. Archbishop Eamon Martin said he was saddened to hear about the death of Bishop Christopher…
This Family of Things by Alison Jameson (Black Swan Ireland, €12.60) The father of political philosophy, Thomas Hobbes, wrote in Leviathan that the lives of men and women were “solitary, nasty, brutish and short”. There are elements of these qualities in the characters of this very readable novel. At the outset the reader is introduced to William…
World of Books by the Books Editor The other day emerging from my oculists in Grafton Street, I was trying out my new distance glasses. Coming towards me down Nassau Street was a No. 11 bus, bound for ‘Wadelai Park’. Thankfully I could see this quite clearly, but it set my memory going, for…
Letter from Rome Arguably, no single thing any Pope ever does is more consequential than choosing the cardinals who will elect his successor. When a Pontiff reveals his picks for new members of the Church’s most exclusive club, therefore, it always delivers a powerful statement not only about where the Church is today, but…
One of the richest experiences of grace that we can have this side of eternity is the experience of friendship. Dictionaries define friendship as a relationship of mutual affection, a bond richer than mere association. They then go on to link friendship to a number of words: kindness, love, sympathy, empathy, honesty, altruism, loyalty, understanding,…
Greg Daly
Colm Fitzpatrick
Chai Brady
Peter Costello
John L. Allen Jr.
Fr Ronald Rolheiser