I suppose the experience – and particularly the conditions – of grandparenthood is different for different people. And like everything else, there must be ups and downs. I hear grannies and grandpas who complain that they ‘never see their grandchildren’ – because of geographical or situational circumstances: or because the family has moved to France,…

Christians must pull together to make common cause with a Faith under siege

As Pope Francis moves to put Mother Mary Aikenhead on the road to sainthood, perhaps it’s a good moment to consider the vast contribution that Irishwomen have made to the world’s religious orders. And I am indebted to Sr Mary Reynolds of the Mercy Order for reminding me that the Mercy sisters were historically the…

The roots of Mother’s Day surely lie in the Feast of the Annunciation

We hardly need reminding that in Italy, “la Mamma”, is a powerful figure, both in reality, and in symbol, image and metaphor. If you really want to upset an Italian, you insult his mother. The wildest Sicilian bandit has always retained the uttermost respect for “la Mamma”. There is even a civilised Italian tradition that…

A pleasant young man was handing out leaflets last Sunday, outside St Teresa’s Church in Clarendon Street, Dublin, calling on people to ‘Stand Against Media Bias’ at a protest outside Dáil Éireann this week. The slogan is “33 to 1” – because, in the space of a recent fortnight, 33 articles appeared in the national…

I was informally fostered by an uncle and aunt when I was seven, and I often feel this has given me a sense of identification with children who are fostered or adopted. Family fostering – an old Irish custom – is not quite the same as being placed with an unknown foster-family. Yet I did…

I think that quite a lot of sincere and good Catholics will feel minded to vote ‘Yes’ to the same-sex marriage referendum coming up on May 22. People want to be kind. People want to be respectful of others and of the nature of others. There are old Irish sayings which underline these sensibilities. Long…

When we consider Pope Francis’ remarks about it being rather selfish not to have children, we have to see it in the context of Italy today. Italy’s low birth rate is catastrophic. The famously child-loving Italians currently have their lowest rate of births since 1870, with just 8.5 babies born for every 1,000 of the…

My husband was very unwell a few weeks ago – not eating, sleeping all the time. I thought perhaps he was moving towards the departure lounge of life. He’s an Anglican and we had spoken, in the past, about ‘end of life’ situations. His views were the same as mine. You don’t kill people off;…