Dear Editor, Your feature letter from Ms Bernadette Fitzgerald in the edition of November 24 (“Why Catholics should welcome Trump”) repeats the idea that, as long as a person is pro-life (i.e., specifically opposed to abortion), this alone trumps (no pun intended) all faults. This is utter nonsense. First, let me be clear, I am…
Courtney McGrail
Archbishop calls on Donald Trump to renew freedom of religion
The US bishops’ head of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty has called on President-elect Donald Trump to undo those executive orders and mandates enacted by President Barack Obama which, the bishops insist, negatively impact on religious liberty. In a guest column for Catholic News Service, Archbishop William Lori writes: “The federal government has…
British Christians should be able to speak openly of faith
Britain’s Prime Minister Teresa May has said Christians should be able to speak openly of their faith in the workplace. Ms May’s comments came in response to an intervention by MP Fiona Bruce during Prime Minister’s Questions in Parliament last week in which she raised concerns felt by Christians that they could be disciplined or…
A time to stay awake among the sleeping
Fr Martin Delaney John Shea, the great Christian storyteller, relates the following Advent reflection. When God was making the trees, he gave a gift to each species. But first he set up a contest to determine which gift would be most useful to whom. He told them: “I want you to stay awake and keep…
President’s poor intervention
Dear Editor, In the regime presided over by Fidel Castro only one political party was tolerated – the Communist Party. Freedom of expression and of speech was, in effect, non-existent. Persons who were not members of the Communist Party found themselves under surveillance by the secret police. Journalists and writers were subject to arbitrary arrest…
Days of grace
Cian Loakman and Stephen Mulpeter The Pope John Paul II Award is an Award which is given to students who have participated in parish activities and social involvement within their parish. This year there will be 14 students who attend Patrician Secondary School in Newbridge Co. Kildare receiving this award. These students come from Newbridge…
The UN does not merit minister’s thanks
Dear Editor, I cannot believe what is happening with the present Government. In this centenary year of the heroes of 1916, Ireland doffs its cap to the UN, a body that cooperated with human rights abuses at many levels. After being roundly abused by the UN for Ireland’s pro-life laws, the then Minister for Health…
The selective silence of President Higgins
Dear Editor, I love reading Mary Kenny’s articles as she is not afraid to say her mind. Having read her ‘Achilles heel’ article about President Higgins and his “seeming reluctance to revisit any past pronouncements on the state of Venezuela and its late leader Hugo Chavez” and the “appalling poverty, hunger, cruelty and injustice” there…
Vatican Roundup
Vatican watchdog will not comment on Amoris Laetitia issue As the row about the Pope’s Amoris Laetitia encyclical continues, the prefect for the Congregation of the Faith (CDF) has said that he cannot respond to the questions – the dubia – posed by four cardinals in a letter to the Pontiff. Speaking during an interview…
Lay community can help elderly priests
Dear Editor, I refer to Greg Daly’s report in The Irish Catholic of November 24 of his attendance at the AGM of the Association of Catholic Priests. An Irish Times editorial of November 18 referred to and fully supported Fr Brendan Hoban’s views on priests being a ‘lost tribe’. As an ordinary and elderly parishioner,…