When my brother James went to work in a bank, he was first sent to Oldcastle, Co. Meath. In those days – this was back in the 1950s – the Hibernian Bank was regarded as ‘the Catholic bank’, especially in counties nearing the border, while the Ulster Bank was regarded as ‘the Protestant bank’. Farmers…
Susie Orbach is a well-known London psychotherapist who was Princess Diana’s emotional counsellor back in the 1980s. She has recently been speaking about the wave of ‘social depression’ that has arisen from prolonged lockdown. The severe restrictions on our everyday lives make us ‘solace-deprived’ and emotionally ‘squeezed-out’. Social isolation, she notes, is a form of…
Our President, Michael D., has been giving a discourse on the evils of the British Empire, its violence, brutality, and class oppression (and a British newspaper, The Guardian, has chosen to publish his thoughts). He is right in much of what he says: imperialism was violent and brutal. He is also correct in saying that…
In the times we are living through, it’s hard to know how to practice Lenten abstinence, since most of us have already forsworn the daily pleasures or self-indulgences which were once the subjects of Lenten penitence. Weight Scolded about the perils of increasing our weight, we’re diligently fasting two, three or four days a week.…
There’s been a campaign afoot to make St Brigid’s Day, on February 1, a national holiday on a par with St Patrick’s Day. Gender balance among Irish saints! And why not? St Brigid has a strong devotional tradition, and the St Brigid’s cross is a symbol cherished in so many Irish households. Brigid, who died…
It is so welcome, and so fitting, that Pope Francis has just declared the late French geneticist Jérome Lejeune as ‘venerable’. Prof. Lejeune, who discovered the chromosome that causes Down Syndrome, was surely a saintly man, as well as a very distinguished scientist. Before he identified this chromosomal difference in 1958, the condition was called…
We are now at the stage of the pandemic where the gurus are emerging to bestow advice about depression and the toll that lockdown is taking on our mental health. A variety of nostrums are being offered to help deal with the stress of continuous lockdown – with little hope of eased restrictions this side…
Since I am of the generation who grew up in Ireland in the 1950s, I’ve received messages on social media saying I – or we – must have been aware of the neglect, malnutrition and cruelties of the mother and baby homes which have been brought to light this week. Astonishing It may seem astonishing…
Fifty years ago, in 1971, a very fine Dominican priest (and philosopher), Fergal O’Connor, set up an organisation to support unmarried mothers, calling it ‘Ally’. In her autobiography, Political Woman the late Nuala Fennell, T.D. – the first minister for women’s rights – praised Fr O’Connor most especially for his pioneering and compassionate work in…
Were I asked to do so, I think I would propose Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, as my Person of the Year. Leadership As the head of the operational side of the EU, she has shown leadership, grace under pressure, and when the EU-British deal was pronounced done, a cultural…