Renua has vowed to replace and reform the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), saying that they have “lost credibility” after their submission to the Oireacthas Committee on the 8th Amendment. The party said their recommendations would result in light-touch regulation and the withdrawal of the right to life of the most vulnerable in…
The modern world was born with the publication of Luther’s 95 theses, writes Fintan Lyons The year beginning October 13, 2016 was chosen to mark the fifth centenary of the Protestant Reformation because of Martin Luther’s posting of his theses against indulgences on that date in 1517, putting him squarely at the heart of…
There was a common belief that the Reformation would blow over, writes Rory Rapple Western Europe may be post-Christian, but the effects of its sectarian divide are everywhere to be seen. Ask almost any Bavarian what makes her different from a Saxon, or any Swede what marks him off from a Spaniard and each…
The foreign nature of Ireland’s Reformation was key to its failure, writes John McCafferty All over the world 2017 will mark the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. What happened here in Ireland? Why did this island remain overwhelmingly Catholic even though its rulers were Protestant? How did religious changes get sucked into the…
Martyrdom was a central – and complex – part of the Irish Reformation experience, writes Alan Ford It’s hard to escape the tradition of political martyrdom in Ireland. The litany of names, from Wolfe Tone to Patrick Pearse to Bobby Sands, is commemorated annually at Bodenstown and on the gable ends of houses in…
The Catholic Reformation entailed coercion as well as wide-ranging reform projects, writes Tadhg Ó hAnnracháin Few terms in historical writing have attracted more dissatisfaction than ‘the Counter-Reformation’. Among the more recent attempts to formulate an alternative are ‘Catholic Reformation’, ‘Catholic Renewal’ or the broad catch-all of ‘Early Modern Catholicism’. Each of these designations depart…
Luther’s ideas are still driving the Christian world, says Francis Campbell The Reformation was more of a phenomenon than we sometimes perceive. It was not simply religious but was societal, political, social and economic too. It is also more apt to speak of Reformations, rather than The Reformation, for in the end Luther also…
Prayers are becoming words without meaning Dear Editor, It is always sad, and even a bit disturbing when, as a couple stand before the altar, there is no obvious passion in that moment when the vows of marriage are pronounced. In a similar way, I am constantly disappointed at the way the Our Father is…
Fr Conor McDonough ‘Post tenebras lux’ (‘Light after the darkness’), the motto of Calvin’s Geneva, is proposed by some as a summary of the Reformation. After the darkness of the Middle Ages, the previously hidden light of the Word of God is unleashed by Luther and his followers who come armed with vernacular Bibles,…
A parliamentary committee to consider Ireland’s constitutional protections for unborn children appears to be a pro-abortion “propaganda exercise”, two committee members who are considering stepping down have said. Highlighting how among the ‘expert witnesses’ addressing the committee was the New York-based Centre for Reproductive Rights, which has been fundraising in the US to overturn Ireland’s…