The development of the Catholic bishops’ ‘Living Love’ resource for primary and secondary schools has something important to teach us about what meaningful consultation looks like. ‘Living Love’ was developed by the Council for Education of the Irish Episcopal Conference to support the delivery of the Social, Personal and Health Education curriculum. A ‘final draft’…
In recent years there has been enormous sympathy in Ireland for the Palestinians in Gaza and many Catholic commentators in Ireland and abroad have adopted an anti-Israel position that can lead to anti-Judaism and antisemitism. Their rhetoric often vilifies Israel’s actions while minimising or ignoring the existential threats the country has faced since its founding,…
When Pope Leo XIV arrived in the City of Lights, in the country once known as the “eldest daughter of the Church,” he was not met by screaming hordes exclaiming with fury, “Écrasez I’infâme!”—often translated as “crush the loathsome thing.” Indeed, this phrase was directed mostly at the Roman Catholic Church by the Jesuit-educated firebrand…
On a sunny day in September, the town of Kells, Co. Meath welcomed a new health clinic, providing life-affirming fertility care and female health education for young women. Present at the official opening were local priests, representatives from Catholic Mothers Ireland, Health Professionals for Life, local GPs and pharmacists, and family and friends. Co-owner of…
I was one of several survivors recently invited to attend and offer a reflection at ‘A Moment of Solidarity with Victims and Survivors of Abuse’ in Co. Kildare. The event was organised by Towards Peace, which provides free spiritual direction and accompaniment to people who have experienced physical, emotional, sexual or spiritual abuse within a…
On the coldest, darkest nights of winter, a horde of cars from all corners of Ireland pulls into Slashers GAA Club outside Longford town. To the passer-by, there is little to distinguish them from any other gathering at a local GAA pitch, save for the ratio of S-registered number plates and the subtle, flat intonation…
Looking back over the past three weeks of Oireachtas hearings on the three-day wait, one thing stands out above everything else for me. It isn’t the political manoeuvring, the carefully managed hearings or even some of the extraordinary exchanges at the Health Committee. It is the women. Over recent months, I have gotten to know women…
In the latest episode of Education Nation, I sat down with Peter Admirand, Associate Professor and director of the Centre for Interreligious Dialogue at Dublin City University. As debates intensify around patronage, governance, curriculum reform, and the future of Religious Education (RE) in Irish schools, Admirand offers a compelling personal, and experience-driven case for why…
Dear Editor, With reference to Roisín Coll’s article: ‘A cup of tea and an open door’, September 24. We have for years attended Mass one Sunday each year in a parish in Saumur, France. Last Sunday more than 50% of the congregation was “youngish.” The place teemed with young parents and children. Since COVID the…
There is something remarkable about the timing of Fulton J. Sheen’s beatification. On the eve of the ceremony in St Louis, Pope Leo XIV mentioned Sheen during his General Audience in Rome. He did not speak simply about the American bishop as a figure from the golden age of Catholic television. Instead, he presented him…
Eilis Mulroy
Fr Dominik Domagala