The View In his 1973 essay ‘The Faith: The Nation, Prime Principles of Survival’, Frank Duff – the founder of the Legion of Mary, whose anniversary was on Saturday – observed that the faith of the nation was in a crisis. He likened the Ireland of the 1950s to pre-revolutionary France. Both appeared on the…
The View Last week the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference published a message to the Faithful entitled ‘Do not lose heart’. A day later it was reported that the four Catholic archbishops of Ireland had requested a meeting with the Taoiseach to address the current restrictions that prevent the celebration of public masses. The news gave…
The View Last week, an item was discussed on RTÉ’s Liveline, prompted by a leaflet published by the HSE advocating that people resort to masturbation and sexual activity online during this time of social distancing. The host, Katie Hannon, took calls from a number of people, many of whom expressed concerns at the HSE’s advice.…
The View Between this week and next, schools across the country are due to reopen. Parents will be sending their children back to a school building for the first time since March, but this September many will be wearing a new uniform: a face mask. Children will be told to keep their distance from their…
The View On June 30, the Department of Health published the first annual report on abortion following the repeal of the Eighth Amendment in 2018. The report, though scant in detail, gave us a glimpse of the new reality of abortion in Ireland: 6,666 abortions in just one year. During the referendum campaign, pro-life spokespeople…
The View With all the media attention focusing on climate change targets and pension age, a less-discussed aspect of the recently agreed programme for government between Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Green Party is the commitment to legislate for exclusion zones around hospitals where abortions are now being performed. This isn’t exactly a new…
The View Last week, the BBC and other outlets carried a report that a school in Hull had apologised after pupils researched porn on the internet for homework set for its pupils. Children aged 11-14 had been asked to “define” topics such as “hardcore porn”, “soft porn”, “revenge porn” and “sexting”. A mother of…
The View At the beginning of Lent we heard the words: “Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.” Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return. In the two months since then – has it really only been two months? – a tiny virus has brought the world to…
The View Pope Francis’ recent Urbi et Orbi address was the most poignant moment of his pontificate. There was something profoundly moving about the emptiness of St Peter’s Square. Next to a crucifix that witnessed the defeat of a plague in Rome in 1522, Christ’s Vicar stood alone in the rain and, in the…
The View With one election over, we await another: the Seanad election. Of the 60 seats in the senate, six are allocated to the university panel. The other 54 are filled by the Taoiseach’s nominees and those nominated by the Vocational Panels. The university panel electorate is small, at only 175,000 between Trinity and NUI.…