The View During the lockdown, many people turned to Amazon, Netflix and good old-fashioned DVD box sets for entertainment. But it is remarkably difficult to find series that are family-friendly, particularly if you have older children and teens. Family-friendly films or series with religious themes which are well-made are even rarer. As a result, I…
The post-pandemic Church can be an enriching place, even at a ‘distance’
The View This column is being written as we begin to be able to return to worship the Risen Lord as a real and not just a virtual community. What a shame the Government has flip-flopped so often on numbers. Of course, not everybody will be able to or should return. People with medical conditions…
Who knows, new ways of precious reconciliation could be infectious
The View When the happy day comes when Covid-19 no longer constitutes an ongoing serious threat to human life, I hope that things will not go back to normal. I hope they can be better than they were and particularly in the area of the celebration of sacraments. For example, there is one Sacrament…
The loneliness of loss is magnified by the curtailment of funeral traditions
The View There was a tragic case recently in Mullingar when the wrong body was given to a family for burial. It was spotted by a mortician when a name on a body bag matched that of someone whose remains had allegedly already been collected by a funeral director. Imagine the distress of the…
Covid-19 is neither God’s will nor Earth’s response…it’s a call to help
The View A thoughtful friend of mine asked me whether this pandemic had been sent for a reason. Was it, she wondered, some kind of message from God that we were getting things badly wrong and needed to change our ways? Did we need to return to basics, like loving others and praying? I see…
Be very careful what you wish for with Sinn Féin in power
The View It really is a case of being careful what you wish for. When I wrote before the election that it was time to move away from the politics of Tweedledum and Tweedledee, I had no idea that the country would instead vote for Tweedledodge. In fairness, neither did Sinn Fein, which could have…
Deaths may coincide with the end of an era for RTÉ in more ways than one
The View Gay Byrne, Marian Finucane and Larry Gogan were household names but the loss of the less-well known but very popular 2FM presenter Alan McQuillan at 37 was also a tragedy. At 69, Marian Finucane was the youngest of the older three, with Gay Byrne and Larry Gogan both in their mid-80s. They were all…
Christianity enriches and ennobles everything we hold dear
The View I love Christmas. No ‘bah, humbug’ for me. Of course, it is much easier to love Christmas when you have been greatly blessed by having a family, a roof over your head and enough to live on. So many people do not even have the basics of life. As a child, there was one…
Donald Trump is the least religious president ever – he has made politics uglier and more vindictive
The View It is remarkable how large a role faith still plays in American politics. There is not a single out-and-proud atheist among the very crowded field of Democratic hopefuls seeking nomination as the presidential candidate. As a non-observant Jew, Bernie Sanders would have been considered perhaps the least religious but even he said somewhat…
A gifted saint with a pastor’s heart
The View All saints are extraordinary, in the sense that they manage to turn their lives and wills over to God and through his grace achieve heroic virtue. John Henry Newman is perhaps more extraordinary than most because of the extent of his natural gifts. James Joyce wrote to his long-suffering English patron, Harriet Weaver,…

Breda O'Brien








