In a recent article in America magazine, Grant Kaplan, commenting on the challenge of the Resurrection, makes this comment: “Unlike previous communities in which the bond among members forges itself through those it excludes and scapegoats, the gratuity of the Resurrection allows for a community shaped by forgiven-forgivers.” What he is saying, among other things,…

“Based on the numbers, the Year of Mercy is proving to be extremely dissatisfying from Rome’s point of view”, writes Editor Michael Kelly It would be both unfair and untrue to call the jubilee year of mercy a flop, but it’s not going to be anything like the Great Jubilee of 2000. I was in…

“RTÉ clearly takes the responsibility of connecting people with this faith experience very seriously”, writes Editor Michael Kelly RTÉ is often roundly (and rightly) criticised for an apparent hostility towards faith and Catholicism in particular. Many people saw the disgraceful 2011 defamation of Fr Kevin Reynolds as confirmation of bias, or even an anti-Catholic agenda,…

“The heritage of ancient Holy Ireland has been woefully underdeveloped in recent years – almost ignored”, writes Mary Kenny One of the leading items on my ‘bucket list’ (things to do before you die) would be to walk the Camino of St James in Spain – or at least to walk some of it. It…

“Most Palestinians live peacefully, as best they can in what is left to them of their homeland, but it gets harder and harder to make a living”, writes Nuala O’Loan As I write this I am sitting close to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, having spent several wonderful, challenging days in the Holy…

We have a responsibility to ease the burden on countries that are immediate neighbours to war-torn regions, writes David Quinn Europe is currently embroiled in the greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War. It has been precipitated by the collapse of authority in Libya, and in large parts of Iraq and, of course, by…

Calling women as deacons is at least worth talking about Phyllis Zagano The early Church had a problem. As it grew, the apostles could not attend to all its ministries. As Pope Francis said, when speaking to assembled bishops in Philadelphia, last September, the apostles essentially ‘invented’ the diaconate. The beginnings of the diaconate related…

“What must be borne in mind is the fact that daily Mass is a (praiseworthy) devotional exercise”, writes Editor Michael Kelly Chaplains at universities and other third level institutions in the Republic were getting it in the neck this week. Atheist Ireland – a body which, oddly, seeks to present itself as the representative organisation…

Following “a terrific reception for his latest document Amoris Laetitia” in America, there are those “who feel that he hasn’t gone far enough”, writes Mary Kenny I have a friend who wrote a well-researched book about the British royal family as a shrewdly ‘marketed’ celebrity product. When I asked him how his book had been…

The success of the synod in Limerick was that it listened to people, writes Cathal Barry The decision to convoke a diocesan synod back in September 2014 was a bold move by Limerick’s Bishop Brendan Leahy who at the time was little over a year in office. After all, until last weekend there had not…