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,…
Lighting candles in times of darkness
The View If you build it, they will come. This famous catchphrase from the 1989 movie Field of Dreams is actually a misquote. In the film, an Iowa corn farmer played by Kevin Costner is walking through his fields one night when he hears a disembodied voice saying: “If you build it, he will…
In marriage, keep an eye out for the four horsemen of the apocalypse…
The View Every so often, I come across a book that I feel is worth sharing with readers, and Eight Dates: Essential Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by Drs John and Julie Gottman is one such. The book concerns how to deepen relationships through a series of dates planned to facilitate in-depth conversations.…
The challenge of taking arms against a sea of pollution
The View Stewardship of the environment is a key Catholic value. Sometimes it is frustratingly hard to implement this value as families and individuals. I am sure that most of us were horrified by the recently published photos of Little Skellig island in Kerry. Gannets are plucking from the sea plastic debris, such as…
Leo Varadkar wrong on ‘individual tragedy’ abortion
There are many tragic aspects to the recent abortion in Holles Street of a healthy baby misdiagnosed with a life-limiting condition, but one thing was sure. Leo Varadkar is entirely wrong when he described it as an “individual tragedy”. It was not an individual tragedy. It was a systemic failure caused firstly, by legalising abortion…
A chance to boost real Catholic Church marriage preparation
The View The upcoming referendum proposing the relaxation of the Constitutional divorce provisions is likely to be passed. It should act as a spur for the Catholic Church to reconsider its attitude to marriage on two fronts: whether it will continue to act as a solemniser for civil marriages and whether the current approach…
Rethinking our relationship with the animal kingdom
The View In recent times, there has been a media frenzy about Tiger Roll, the brave little horse that won the Aintree Grand National for the second time. But the fact that a horse died at the Grand National, the Willie Mullins-trained Up For Review, has received far less coverage. The horse was seen…
When Faith bears unpredictable fruit
The View There are billboards for Hozier’s new album, Wasteland, Baby!, all over the place. In a Guardian Question and Answer session the singer (Andrew Hozier-Byrne) revealed that he has Seamus Heaney’s last words tattooed on his arm. Seamus Heaney had texted ‘noli timere’ which means, “do not be afraid”, to his wife, Marie,…