In a few days, Taoiseach Micheal Martin is due to meet President Donald Trump in the White House. It will almost certainly take place on St Patrick’s Day itself, although last year that was not the case. Maybe the current global tumult will derail things. I managed to get into the White House myself years…
As the world turns green for St Patrick’s Day, the great outposts of the Irish diaspora will compete, as they always do, to outshine one another. In Chicago, the river will glow an impossible emerald. Beneath the spires of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Fifth Avenue will pulse with marching bands and tricolours. In Boston, Southie will…
God created everything: the heavens, the earth, the trees, the flowers and every creature on the earth; God did not create worry. Call it by any name- despair, anxiety, concern -God did not create it. We mortals often get worried and preoccupied about something in the future that will never happen. The great American writer…
Q: I’ve recently decided to return to my childhood Catholic faith after many years aways, and my priest told me I need to get an annulment. When I called the marriage tribunal, they said they needed to contact my ex-husband for this. But I don’t see any need to drag him through this whole process. Does my…
The immorality of the ‘triple lock’ Dear Editor, David Quinn is one of the finest writers in Ireland today, but I was surprised at the naiveté of his recent piece supporting the so-called ‘triple lock’ (IC, February 26). In simple terms the ‘triple lock’ requires the permission of the UN Security Council before the Irish…
It was the summer of 1986 when the teenage Gerry Sweeney drifted away from the sacraments. “I had been missing Mass and I knew something wasn’t right and I thought I better do something about it,” he recalls. He had been covering his tracks by getting other pals to pick up the parish bulletin. His…
Difficulties and suffering are part of the journey of life in this world. There is no life without difficulties and suffering. We all certainly have moments of suffering and difficulty in life. Therefore, we need to realise that suffering and difficulties in life are not something to be avoided but something we must face with…
As the Middle East reels under the weight of an increasingly complex war, Lebanese civilians once again find themselves paying the price of a familiar, painful scene. Against this backdrop, the Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Lebanon issued a statement combining a clear spiritual stance, a bold national demand, and an urgent humanitarian…
Catholic priests in Rhode Island preyed on hundreds of children for decades, getting away with sexual abuse largely due to a system where bishops prioritised minimising scandal as the diocese maintained a secret archive that concealed evidence of more victims. These findings were among the many sobering details released March 5 as part of a…
Made in America: The dark history that led to Donald Trump, by Edward Stourton. (Torva /Transworld Penguin, £20.00 / €28.00) My country, ’tis of thee / Sweet land of liberty / Of thee I sing” – the anthem of which these are the opening words has been a staple of American popular culture since…
David Quinn
Martina Purdy