Pope Francis is absolutely right to carry out his ‘penitential pilgrimage’ to Canada and unreservedly apologise for abuse, cruelty and mistreatment which First Nation children suffered in Canadian government institutions run by the Catholic Church. Wherever abuse, whether sexual or physical, has occurred, it should be named, investigated and the victims given full entitlements to…
The View Funeral after funeral. That is how this summer has been for me — sudden deaths, accidents, and deaths that were a long time in coming but shocking, nonetheless. There were funerals of young people or young at heart people, interspersed with anniversary masses. Oddly, perhaps the most difficult funeral was the one I…
For those who believe strongly in the importance of marriage, is it even worth fighting for anymore asks David Quinn It seems we might have another referendum on the family next year. That’s if the Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality has its way. The committee has in its sights the sections of the Constitution that…
Now is the time for priests and people to plan creatively for a future together, writes Fr Gareth Byrne Unprecedented change is coming in the Archdiocese of Dublin. In April 2021, Archbishop Dermot Farrell formed a taskforce under the title Building Hope. The archbishop asked the Building Hope taskforce to assess the needs of the…
MASKWACIS, Alberta – the first step of Pope Francis’ “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada involved him returning two pairs of children’s moccasins. The little shoes were not among the Indigenous artifacts held in the Vatican Museums, but rather reminders that Chief Marie-Anne Day Walker-Pelletier of the Okanese First Nation in Saskatchewan had left with Pope Francis…
The Belgian theologian Jan Walgrave, who directed my doctoral thesis, was a true intellectual and a rare one. True, in that his thought naturally, instinctually gravitated towards the huge philosophical questions of essence and existence. Why are we here? Who are we really? Moreover, he was also a rare intellectual in that he was an uncommon…
‘Family Love – a Vocation and a Path to Holiness’ was the theme of the Tenth World Meeting of Families that took place in Rome recently from June 22 to 26. Here I would like to reflect on one aspect of this theme, namely the family as both having a vocation but also being the…
One of the remarkable aspects of the recent tussle for power and leadership in the British Conservative party has been the number of candidates from an ethnic background. Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor and always the front-runner to replace Boris Johnson, is from an Indian heritage; while a rising star, Kemi Badenoch comes from a Nigerian…
The View Most parents of children with disabilities will tell you that they’ve been forced to fight hard to obtain the services their children need to develop their full potential. Despite repeated claims by the State that their objective is to ensure that no child gets left behind, advocates for people with disabilities point to…
Maybe teaching children something about pornography is inevitable and necessary, writes David Quinn Pornography will now be studied as part of a new Relationships and Sexuality Education programme to the taught at Junior Certificate level in the country’s secondary schools. That is the latest diktat from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) that…
Mary Kenny
Breda O'Brien
David Quinn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser