It is the truth, spoken quietly but with conviction and clarity by children who are victims of sexual abuse, that wins justice for them in courts of law and by which they gain freedom from the domination of their abusers. Their abusers are frequently their biological father, stepfather, live-in partner of their mother, grandfather, brother,…
It is not enough to love the young, they must know that they are loved,” St John Bosco once famously said. Christine O’Hara, a secondary school teacher at Coláiste Chríost Rí in Cork has applied the saint’s advice in her work as a Catholic educator, providing a safe and reflective space for her students in…
Dr Hugo Slim says humanitarian action must protect both people and the world they depend on There is a painting by Francisco Goya entitled ‘Fight with Cudgels’. Two men furiously swing at each other in desperate concentration, locked in combat, yet they are unaware that they are both sinking into the same ground beneath them.…
Three weeks ago, I flew across the European continent, across the Middle East, to my hometown of Kerala, a state that needs no introduction with fellow Catholics. It had been two years since I visited my state in India, and this time, I wasn’t alone. My close friend from the Rathmines Parish Young Adults group,…
In Week 1 of his Lumen Gentium catechesis, Pope Leo XIV explains that the Church is both a sign and an instrument of God’s plan of salvation. Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome! When the Second Vatican Council, to whose documents we are dedicating the catecheses, wanted to describe the Church, it…
Fr Brian Lennon SJ takes issue with the Catholic position on the ordination of women to the priesthood (The Irish Catholic, 12/2/2026). In making his case, Fr Lennon begins with an emotional appeal. A female chaplain can comfort a dying patient only to the point of giving them the Sacrament of the Sick. Then she…
Three and a half decades ago, a Kildare man climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand to lift the Sam Maguire aloft, capping the greatest summer of all for those on Leeside. The towering figure of Larry Tompkins captained his adopted county to their sixth All-Ireland title, their second in a row, and their second…
Intellectual cowardice is the worst enemy a writer or journalist has to face.” When George Orwell wrote these words in his proposed preface to Animal Farm, he was not describing prison or state censorship. He was describing a far more personal failure – the moment when a journalist knows the truth and decides, for reasons…
With the recent celebration of St Valentine’s Day, various expressions of the tinsel of love were on display. Most of it was fun, but all of it inadequate. Still, all such expressions help us touch the hem of something deeper and keep open a portal to love’s sacred depth. The plot of the film P.S.…
It is that time of the year again, where everyone scrambles to find at least one thing they wish to avoid for the next 40 days. Some find it a way to regain some sort of stability in their lives, others find it a near annoyance. Options weren’t a thing back in the day however.…