Parents should demand to see the content of education on porn, writes Fr Chris Hayden A couple of months ago, an episode of RTÉ’s ‘Upfront’ programme with Katie Hannon caused consternation, with many viewers expressing surprise at how widespread pornography has become, and at how many children are viewing it. The facts are indeed troubling,…

Anyone who falls foul of present orthodoxies is at risk under new laws to prosecute people accused of undefined ‘hate’, writes David Quinn One of the most overused words in politics today is ‘hate’. When someone disagrees with you, it isn’t enough to simply say you are wrong. You must also be condemned as a…

A co-responsible Church will only thrive if priests facilitate, nurture and encourage it, writes Bishop Niall Coll The line from Scripture which I chose recently as my episcopal motto springs readily to mind – ‘Christ Jesus our hope’. It is in our shared hope, in our faith as it looks to the future, that we…

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, president of the powerful Italian bishops’ conference, comes off as a very modern figure. His roots are in the Community of Sant’Egidio, a new movement in Catholicism that dates just to 1968, and he’s a key ally of Pope Francis in his effort to promote a 21st century global Church. Yet…

John Lavenburg A US-government commission tasked with monitoring religious freedom abroad has recommended the State Department designate five new countries as “Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs)” because of their engagement in, or toleration of, “particularly severe” religious freedom violations, including against Christians. In its 2023 report released on May 1, the United States Commission on…

We have a name! (Or, Habemus nomen as the cardinal who announces a new pope might put it). At last, our family of parishes has a name of its very own. Since last September, when I took up my new West Cork coastal appointment, our pastoral unit has had the somewhat unwieldy title of “The…

The legendary French feminist Simone de Beauvoir has been removed from a list of female candidates to be honoured in sculpture at Trinity College Dublin’s Old Library. When it emerged that De Beauvoir, who died in 1986, was accused of grooming young female students as lovers – whom she apparently passed on to her veteran…

In barrister Marie O’Shea’s independent review of the abortion legislation, abortion is taken as an unqualified good. Therefore, anything standing in the way has to be removed. The three-day waiting period is framed as dispensable. And yet the review acknowledges elsewhere in a section on consent, that “there are risks that women may regret their…

Parents will have to fight back if gender ideology is imposed on schools, writes David Quinn A major review into how Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) is taught in the country’s schools has been underway for some time now with demands that it be brought ‘up to date’. This is often code for ditching from…

Kieran O’Sullivan died on Saturday 16, April 2023. He was the local undertaker in Rathdowney, Co. Laois. Dear Kieran, I write this letter to you just two weeks after you have gone to the Father’s house where no doubt you have had a wonderful reunion with your parents Michael and Mai. Mind you, I presume…