At the prayer service held in Carlow for those seriously injured by young teenagers who lost their own lives driving the wrong way on the M9 motorway, Bishop Denis Nulty said something challenging. He described the sense of shock felt right around the country, which was almost akin to that felt after September 11, 2001.…
Glen Hansard’s recent untimely death left fans reeling. When someone dies in their fifties, particularly if they leave a widow and young child behind, the shock is enormous. And yet, given our human fragility, the surprising thing is not early death but how many of us manage to live well into our eighties and sometimes…
Almost a third of the participants were young at the recent excellent Logos Scripture Summer School organised by Petra Conroy and taught by Fr Terence Crotty OP in the Cistercian Abbey Guesthouse, Roscrea. Not only that, but the majority of participants in their twenties and thirties were male. This chimes with a recent trend of…
As attitudes to immigration harden in Ireland, it is instructive to study what Pope Leo said about migration during his recent visit to Spain, particularly in Gran Canaria, and during his visit to Lampedusa in Italy. Catholic social teaching on migration is nuanced. Pope Leo is continuing the tradition of all the recent popes. Even…
Pope Leo’s style differs from that of his predecessor, Pope Francis, although they are concerned about many of the same issues. Pope Leo has called two extraordinary consistories in his short pontificate. It is well-known that Pope Francis preferred to rely on his kitchen cabinet of nine cardinals, dubbed the C9. Pope Leo has employed…
As schools close for the summer, I wonder how many teachers in Catholic schools realise that Pope Leo has high praise for the role of teachers in his encyclical on AI, Magnifica Humanitas? He insists that the dignity of the human person must remain central in this “change of era” brought about by AI. He…
Simon Lewis wrote a challenging article in The Irish Times recently about First Holy Communion. He was chatting over a few drinks to a psychologist, who was preparing for the sacrament by spending weeks doing up the house and garden and securing a bouncy castle, no easy feat. The worst part, she told him, was…
It’s funny how times change. The early 2000s were dominated by the Four Horsemen of the New Atheism, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins. Sam Harris wrote two books, The End of Faith (2004) and Letter to a Christian Nation (2006), and the others wrote one each, celebrating the end of religion…
The world was shocked by footage of a 48-year-old French sister being randomly attacked by a stranger in Jerusalem, who then returned to kick her on the ground. The attack took place outside the Cenacle, a site sacred to Jews and Christians, as it is believed to be the burial place of King David and…
Moya Brennan’s death saddened many people. Whatever the opposite of having notions is, Moya Brennan epitomised it. She had a God-given talent and used it in service of Him. After her death, Oliver Callan interviewed Donal Lunny, who collaborated with Clannad and later, Moya Brennan in her solo career. He said, “She carried it in…