Michelle O’Neill’s election as First Minister in the restored power-sharing administration in Stormont is rightly hailed as an historic moment. We don’t need to rehearse the history of partition or the creation of Northern Ireland to know that those who crafted that state, never wanted or expected it to turn out this way. Ms O’Neill…
Two Cambridge-led studies have found that both the distress caused by the pandemic in the UK and the experience of infection with Covid-19 in the US were reduced among people of faith. According to a new study released by Cambridge University, religious people seem to have experienced lower levels of stress and unhappiness during the…
What happens to us when we experience a dark night of the soul? What’s happening and what’s to be our response? There are libraries of literature on this, each book or article making its own point, but here I want to share a rather unique and highly insightful take on this by Constance FitzGerald, a…
Scottish politicians are indulging in paternalistic overreach, writes Ian Dunn John Knox has been in the grave for four centuries, but his spirit still lingers in Scotland. As in Ireland, Scotland’s politicians like the idea of a progressive secular state that has left behind its religious roots – but the readiness with which Scotland’s politicians…
The work Irish missionaries continue to do overseas has lessons for the entire NGO sector, hears Jason Osborne This year, Misean Cara is celebrating 20 years of supporting Irish missionaries around the world, aiding and empowering these silent heroes in their efforts to provide a better quality of life for “those left farthest behind”. Their…
Bulwarks of Unbelief: Atheism and Divine Absence in a Secular Age by Joseph Minich, foreword by Carl R. Trueman (Lexham Press, €25/ $29 / £21) How did we, in the West, move from a world in which belief in God was the default position to one in which it is an option among others? Charles Taylor’s The…
Walking through the park on a brisk winter morning, I glance at the car park near the playground and notice a colourful van. I see big letters on its side panel: “Worry First”. Wait a minute. I look again. Actually, it says “Worry Free,” the slogan of a utility company’s appliance service. I chuckle. I’ve…
Letter from Rome Though it’s likely apocryphal, the story goes that during British rule of India, colonial officials became concerned about poisonous cobras in the city of Delhi and decided to offer a bounty for every dead snake. Enterprising locals, naturally, began to breed cobras in order to collect the reward. When the British discovered…
Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier, with a new afterword (Vintage, £9.99 / €12.60) The author of this book would, I think, regard this ambition as the start of a race to the bottom. Jaron Lanier is a Jeremiah of the internet who has emerged directly from Silicon Valley.…
Speaking in the build up to Temperence Sunday on Sunday 11, Spiritual Director of the Pioneers Fr Robert McCabe, said that the role of Faith in a person’s recovery from addiction is vital and offers consolation and guidance to those who are seeking long-term sobriety after treatment. “Faith is one of the twelve steps,” he…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Ian Dunn
John L. Allen Jr.
Peter Costello
Brandon Scott