John Reid In a blistering editorial comment this week, the Irish Independent criticised the Catholic Church (which has patronage over about 90% of primary schools in the Republic) for its response to the current Government’s draft programme on education about religious beliefs and ethics, even suggesting that a failure to dilute or scrap the ethos…

“Death is part of life, an entry to life eternal”, writes Michael Kelly

“We should empty our minds of fears, hates, insecurities, regrets”, writes Mary Kenny

“Making enough plastic to satisfy the US water market takes 17 million barrels of oil”, writes Breda O’Brien

A 14-year old girl in the UK, dying of cancer, was awarded by court the right to have her body frozen after her death, so-called ‘cryogenic freezing’. The girl, who has since died, wants the possibility of being raised from the dead if science ever allows this, even if that is still hundreds of years…

A prophet makes a vow of love, not of alienation. Daniel Berrigan wrote those words and they need to be highlighted today when a lot of very sincere, committed, religious people self-define as cultural warriors, as prophets at war with secular culture.  This is the stance of many seminarians, clergy, bishops, and whole denominations of…

Finola Kennedy November is the month of the Holy Souls. It is a time when we pray for the dead, and many visit the graves of their loved ones. But cemeteries attract visitors for other reasons too. A cemetery might seem an unlikely tourist attraction but Glasnevin has been drawing increasing numbers especially following Aoife…

“The fact that he could be elected in the US is revealing of a wider alienation that many people feel”, writes Michael Kelly

“The world is what it is, and it’s interesting – even droll – to watch the reconfiguration of power politics with a shift in power” writes Mary Kenny

“There is little left to draw on for Christmas, yet Christmas will come”, writes Nuala O’Loan