Down Syndrome (DS) is a genetic disorder named after the British physician John Langdon Down who identified it in 1866. It is estimated that there are about 7,000 people in Ireland with DS and one DS baby is born in every 546 births. About 6,000 babies with DS are born annually in America. Boys are…

“Michael O’Sullivan was my great friend… but I don’t ever remember telling him that. The words that are spoken at a funeral are spoken too late for the man who is dead.” This scene from the 1998 comedy Waking Ned is one of my favourites. I can’t help but think there’s real truth in the…

It is the change in the light that tells me – spring is here. Early in the morning and now in the evening there is a golden glow to the world, different from the more subdued light of winter. I love this season, with our berry bushes beginning to bud, rhubarb growing so quickly you…

This St Patrick’s Day is our first as emigrants. Since arriving in England last summer, we’ve gone through all the usual things that face families moving overseas: finding schools and a place to live, filling out myriad forms, importing our cars, getting set up in work, registering to pay tax and to vote. All the…

Mags Gargan speaks to the National Director for Catechetics about her first year in the role There is a lot happening in the area of religious education in Ireland at the moment, so when Kate Liffey took the role of National Director for Catechetics early last year, in some ways she didn’t realise the challenge…

Parenting Matters It almost seems unnecessary to say that a good start in life sets a child up for the journey that follows. We are only beginning to make sense of what mothers and grandmothers instinctively knew but may not have described. I worked at Crumlin Hospital in the 1990’s when there was one psychologist…

I was a speaker at the recent conference by The Irish Catholic/Iona Institute on Pope Francis and the future of the family in Ireland. Afterwards a number of people came up to talk to me. One man spoke of his work with the Society of St Vincent de Paul and how their outreach is to…

These Irish coffee cardamom cupcakes are incredibly rich and just the dessert for St Patrick’s Day. You can use any whiskey of your choice but this recipe has been tried with a Bushmills and Laphroaig. For a non-alcoholic version, omit the whiskey and the syrup from the frosting and instead grind the seeds from five…

Orlaith Barrett describes her experience of being part of a St Vincent de Paul youth conference Orlaith Barrett As Transition Year (TY) students we decided to set up the Nano Foundation (St Vincent De Paul Youth Conference) because the St Vincent De Paul Society (SVP), which was founded in Ireland in 1844, is the largest…

Science of Life Oxfam has released figures showing that the richest people on the planet are rapidly growing even richer. The 62 wealthiest people on Earth (you could easily seat them on one bus) have as much money as the entire poorer 50% (3.6 billion) of the global population. And this concentration of wealth at…