At John Bruton’s funeral in February, the homilist, Fr Bruce Bradley SJ, spoke of how we live now in a rapidly secularising age. He said that is not all bad, pointing to the growth in confidence, prosperity and diversity that the country has experienced. Nonetheless, something has been lost. Fr Bradley cited Seamus Heaney’s comments…
Most parents and grandparents will be horrified at the recent headlines declaring that almost a quarter of six-year-olds have their own smartphones. Given the prevalence and ease of access to internet porn, this seems crazy. Some 30 years ago, a friend was horrified when her daughter was conducting an internet search for pictures of the…
Lots of people feel down in January. ‘Blue Monday’, or the third Monday in January, is often called the most depressing day of the year. However, Blue Monday was an invention of someone called Cliff Arnall, who created it as a publicity stunt for a travel agency. In the way of the internet, which manages…
For the first time ever, this year some of my second level students queried whether we should be singing, ‘O Come Emmanuel, the great Advent hymn. The reason? It refers to Israel, and in particular, to ransoming captive Israel. Students politely explained that they do not support Israel’s action in Gaza and as a result,…
With little else in the news aside from wars and rumours of wars (Matthew 24:6), along with murder trials and extreme weather events, I freely admit to seeking escapism when I went with my husband, youngest son and his friend, Jacob, to see The Miracle Club, directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan. The fact that The Miracle…
Forgiveness is an endangered virtue in our society, which seems addicted to the cancellation of people judged to hold unacceptable views. Instead, something like Orwell’s ‘Two Minutes Hate’ is triggered, where people foam at the mouth in anger in programmed ways. However, something unusual happened on Twitter recently, (I refuse to call it X, which…
As you read this, a courageous bishop is sitting in solitary confinement in a Nicaraguan prison – Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa. We are so flooded with bad news that it can sometimes be hard to care about a country thousands of miles away. The Irish Catholic has played a valuable role in helping us…
Recently, I got on a crowded Luas and sat down, delighted to find an empty seat. I then glanced at the other side of the carriage. My heart sank. I saw immediately why the seat had been free. There were two tough-looking individuals with their feet up on the seats. Both had that malnourished look…
The fact that RTÉ concealed additional payments to broadcaster, Ryan Tubridy, to the tune of €345,000 will undermine confidence still further in the public service broadcaster. In a disturbing article in the Sunday Independent, an anonymous whistleblower claims that Mr Tubridy’s salary is just the tip of the iceberg. Apparently, it is a dirty little…
It is great news that every primary school in Greystones has signed up for a ban on smartphones. It is a significant gesture when everyone is wringing their hands about the impact of smartphones but few are doing anything about it. It is not enough, however. There need to be familial, local, national and international…