Fewer children, shuttered schools and universities and the promotion of pet ownership over and above the formation of families are but a few effects of South Korea’s plunging childbirth rate, according to Seoul-based Irish Columban, Fr Donal O’Keeffe. This comes even as Irish birthrates continue to fall, well below the replacement level 2.1 children per…
A growing rift between the Vatican and Israel was exacerbated recently when the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See hit back against a top Vatican official who said the ongoing Israeli military offensive in Gaza is disproportionate. On the margins of a February 13 event commemorating the 95th anniversary of the Lateran Pacts, which regularised the…
D.D. Emmons As the penitential season of Lent begins, we Catholics, like Christians everywhere, prepare to commemorate the passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Just a few short weeks ago, we celebrated his birth, and now the Church begins our preparation to join him on his journey to Calvary. The Church scene becomes sombre, more…
Vice-president of Mary Immaculate College (MIC) Niamh Hourigan is set to run for the Labour party for a seat in the European parliamentary elections. The academic and social commentator’s candidacy was announced on Sunday at a convention in the Metropole Hotel in Cork City. Responding to the news, the vice president of academic affairs at…
Dr Greg Popcak Lent is a time of reparation – a season of sorrow for sins committed and expressions of a sincere desire to reform our lives. But what does it mean to be sorry? What are the components of real remorse? Whether we are expressing sorrow to God, a spouse, family member or friend,…
Jonah McKeown Russian leaders last Friday announced the death of Alexei Navalny, a prominent opposition politician to President Vladimir Putin, in a Siberian prison. Navalny, 47, had been serving a 19-year sentence for alleged extremism and years of criticism of the authoritarian Putin in a harsh penal colony north of the Arctic Circle. Navalny’s political opposition to Putin…
Robert Nash, SJ (1902-89) was a popular and well-known spiritual writer, here in Ireland, a man with an international reputation in the decades before Vatican II. Apart from publishing numerous books, he spent his life conducting retreats for religious and leading parish missions. This, his last book, is an excellent summary of his Ignatian Spirituality…
They say (and rightly) that all history is at heart local history. In the past people in Ireland did not think first of ‘national identity’ at all. Asked where they were from they would begin with the townland on which they resided, where indeed they may have been born, followed by the barony and…
An Irish Columban in South Korea tells of turbulent times for the east Asian nation with looming conflict and vanishing children at the forefront, hears Jason Osborne After 48 years in South Korea, it’s fair to say that Irish Columban, Fr Donal O’Keeffe has his finger on this prosperous nation’s pulse, and right now it’s…
Fr Raphael Gallagher There will be a lot of opportunities to vote in the coming 12 months. Dates for Constitutional amendments, local elections, European parliament are already set in place. Dáil and Seanad elections are at most a year away. There are many issues to think through when we vote. One question worth considering at…
Peter Costello