Here’s a fascinating theme: “Family Values: the Catholic Church and the Mafia”. This was the subject of Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith’s address at last week’s Catholic Writers’ Guild in London. Fr Alexander, born in Malta, is knowledgeable about Sicilian (and Calabrian society), and has written several novels intertwining the Mafia, the local priesthood, and the people.…
I was surprised to see a French supermarket – in the Bordeaux region – dedicate a whole section of its space to Hallowe’en costumes and assorted such decorations, from witches’ hats to spooky skeleton costumes. Marking Hallowe’en had never, previously, been a French custom: but it has become one now, thanks to American merchandising tactics.…
I have no strong opinions, either way, about the practice of the traditional Latin Mass. My instinctive feeling is – let people have Mass in whatever form they chose, providing it follows the basic tenets of the faith. So, visiting the lovely old spa town of Vichy in France this month, I took the opportunity…
Next week, on October 16, the British parliament will once again debate ‘assisted dying’, following a private member’s bill to be introduced by Kim Leadbeater. Ms Leadbeater is the younger sister of the murdered MP Jo Cox – who was killed by a right-wing extremist in 2016 – and stepped forward to succeed her sister…
Pope Francis received ‘a frosty welcome’ at the Catholic University of Louvain for his praise for the role of motherhood in history, adding “what is characteristic of women, what is feminine is not determined by consensus or ideologies. It is not written on paper, but in the flesh.” Louvain expressed ‘incomprehension and disapproval’ at Francis’s…
It’s certainly a welcome development that Justice Minister Helen McEntee is to drop her proposed “hate speech” legislation. It would have led to all kinds of prying actions by the State into our private lives and opinions. It would have been a harness on freedom of speech, and perhaps ideas. And since Catholic values are…
We live at a time when public scandals appear so ubiquitous that their shock value seems diminished; yet the case of Huw Edwards, the BBC newsreader convicted this week of viewing child pornographic images, has had a huge impact in Britain. It’s the fact that Edwards was such a decent, reassuring, familiar face in every…
How thought-provoking it is now to turn over the pages of the renowned Dictionary of Irish Biography (published by the Royal Irish Academy) and note how frequently Irish religious schools have been mentioned with honour. Almost all of the revolutionary generation men were educated by priests and brothers; and even among noteworthy Irishmen who died…
Perhaps this is the kind of conversation that must often take place in private. Recently, a friend reflectively aired this thought, “with so much contraception now available, one must wonder why Irish abortion figures continued to rise.” There were 10,033 abortions in the Irish Republic in 2023, increased from 8,156 in 2022 and 6,577 in…
Ireland is partitioned politically – but there are also cultural divisions north and south. And one of the significant national achievements of journalist and feminist campaigner, Nell McCafferty, who died recently, aged 80, was that she was equally recognised, and equally relatable, north and south. The Derrywoman’s reputation went across 32 counties. Many accolades have…