Pope Francis is absolutely right to carry out his ‘penitential pilgrimage’ to Canada and unreservedly apologise for abuse, cruelty and mistreatment which First Nation children suffered in Canadian government institutions run by the Catholic Church. Wherever abuse, whether sexual or physical, has occurred, it should be named, investigated and the victims given full entitlements to…
One of the remarkable aspects of the recent tussle for power and leadership in the British Conservative party has been the number of candidates from an ethnic background. Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor and always the front-runner to replace Boris Johnson, is from an Indian heritage; while a rising star, Kemi Badenoch comes from a Nigerian…
Christians are enjoined to love one another, and to love their enemy as well. But that doesn’t mean that everyone has to like everyone else. It’s a simple fact that not everyone can like everyone else. The accord that is struck between two people can depend on that intangible element known as ‘personal chemistry’. As…
I suspect that many women have divided feelings on the subject of ‘drag queens’ – chaps who dress up in women’s clothes, with an over-exaggerated presentation of female hair, make-up and gestures. Some find it amusing; others feel that it takes a mocking view of femininity – rather as black people have objected to whites…
If I don’t appear at my local church over a couple of Sundays, other parishioners are kind enough to notice my absence: people very sweetly ask me afterwards if I’ve been away – usually the reason – and if I had a pleasant trip. One of the social advantages of being part of a parish…
Michael D. Higgins is a very popular president, and I think there’s a special reason why he is well suited to the Irish temperament. Many outsiders who have observed Ireland and the Irish have remarked that a feature of Irish life is a difference between what people say in the public sphere – and what…
The idea of same-sex marriage was only seriously suggested in the 1990s, and one of the earliest advocates for this cause was the Catholic conservative journalist and writer Andrew Sullivan. At first, the gay community was divided about same-sex marriage – and some are still opposed to it” Mr Sullivan, who is from an Irish…
There’s a chap in our neighbourhood who, on having to take early retirement, began baking bread as a hobby. And now he delivers a delicious loaf to me every Monday morning for a modest fee. There’s a mighty difference between a home-baked loaf and a supermarket product, and I’ve come to appreciate the taste of…
We didn’t talk a lot about the British royal family when I was growing up in Dublin – those far-off days were before the era of mass media and talking about royalty wasn’t considered, understandably, a republican virtue. But I do recall, aged six, the occasion when Elizabeth II became Queen of England, in 1952,…
Is stealing wrong? I think most of us have been taught that it is, deriving from the Ten Commandments. Theft hurts not only the victim, but the common good, since it diminishes trust in society. But in Britain, Andy Cooke, chief inspector of Her Majesty’s Constabulary, has instructed his officers to ‘go easy’ on those…