Ireland still does not want a normal relationship with the Church, writes David Quinn Hostile or negative headlines ahead of the Pope’s visit to Ireland next week have been mounting. The Irish Times ran three in the space of five days. One concerned a fear that homeless people will be ejected from emergency accommodation…
The Government seems determined to bar religion from public life, writes David Quinn We live in truly extraordinary times. A conference on Humanae Vitae is addressed by a bishop and there is an immediate negative response on social media from no less a figure than our Health Minister, Simon Harris, who tweets, “Please just…
The State can’t protect families if we can’t even agree on the definition, writes David Quinn The Government’s liberal push shows no sign of abating. On the contrary, its victories in the likes of the abortion and same-sex marriage referenda have only spurred them on. It now has in mind for us referenda on divorce,…
The willingness to take great physical risks is inspirational, writes David Quinn People love their heroes. Heroes are always the best in their field. During the World Cup, countries looked to the heroes in their squads. For Portugal it was Cristiano Ronaldo. For Argentina it was Lionel Messi. For Croatia it was Luka Modric.…
It could take years before we know if the papal trip has been a success, writes David Quinn And so, all 500,000 tickets available for the Pope’s Mass in Phoenix Park next month have been taken up. That is an impressive number by any reckoning, and especially in today’s very secular climate. An additional…
An inauthentic Church peddles ‘cheap grace’, writes David Quinn In any given society and cultural moment, Christianity faces certain temptations. In part of Eastern Europe, for example, Christianity is coming to be identified again with national identity. This happened in the run-up to World War I and World War II, with disastrous consequences. In…
Even the right to baptise your child is now being questioned, writes David Quinn We are definitely in a radically new cultural moment when even the practice of infant baptism is called into question and by no less a person than our former president, Mary McAleese. If the right of Catholics to baptise their…
Catholic hospitals must stand their ground on abortion, writes David Quinn In the Dáil last week, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar confirmed that Catholic hospitals will have to perform abortions under the terms of the upcoming abortion law. Let that sink in for a moment. Very few countries require such a thing because they know abortion…
If the Church tries to be too accommodating of cultural Catholicism, it starts to lack coherence, writes David Quinn In Ireland, most people still seem content to call themselves ‘Catholic’. Census data for 2016 put the figure at 78%. The RTÉ exit poll on the day of the abortion referendum came up with a…
A double standard lies at the heart of reaction to the adoption scandal, writes David Quinn In November 2016, ITV aired a programme called Breaking the Silence: Britain’s Adoption Scandal. It interviewed seven women who became pregnant decades ago while unmarried and were forced by the state, the churches, their families and their GPs…