It may take time, but Ireland’s abortion law is not settled and the pendulum will swing again, writes Killian Foley-Walsh Like many who campaigned for the retention of Ireland’s life-saving Eighth Amendment, the triumphal scenes that followed its repeal by a two-to-one margin nearly four years ago broke my heart. I looked on with dismay…
Dr Fáinche Ryan Christian theology is an exploration of what it means to be human, and to live humanly in this world, writes Dr Fáinche Ryan ‘Top MP resigns for watching pornography in the Commons’ was a newspaper headline late last month. Comments around the culture of sexism in the British parliament. On Irish radio…
The leaders of religious orders around the world are taking very seriously not only preparations for the Synod of Bishops assembly in 2023, but the whole idea of making the Church more ‘synodal’ – a place where everyone is called to prayer, discernment and responsibility for the Church and its mission. More than 500 leaders…
No organisation in history has made a more systematic or bigger contribution to healthcare worldwide than the Catholic Church, writes David Quinn In the row about the future of the National Maternity Hospital (NMH), Catholic healthcare has been unfairly demonised. The spectre has been raised that the Church will somehow exercise influence over the new…
Junno Arocho Esteves Taking the stand for a second time at his Vatican trial, Cardinal Angelo Becciu spent more than two hours reading a statement in which he claimed accusations of financial impropriety were an attempt to stain his reputation. At the trial May 5, Cardinal Becciu said he felt “immense pain” when Pope Francis…
Where can all of us believers come together beyond the divisions created by history, dogma, denomination, and religion? Where is there a place all people of sincere heart can find common ground and worship together? That place is found in the ecumenical and interreligious pursuit of spirituality, and our theology schools and seminaries need to…
Notebook In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings there is a wonderful passage when the wizard Gandalf is face to face with Denethor, the ruler of Gondor. In the face of the threat of the evil Sauron, Denethor sees it as his task to defend his kingdom, and above all to keep the walls…
The View Long ago in a different century, I was a member of a college drama society. One of the plays we put on was a Thornton Wilder piece called Our Town. In the course of that play (spoiler alert) there is an unashamed tear-jerker moment. Emily, a 26-year-old who has died, is allowed to…
There was a time when the laity didn’t take it upon themselves to advise a bishop, and the distance was maintained between the See and the flock. But we are moving at a different tempo now, as the new Bishop of Galway, Michael Duignan, indicated at his installation last weekend. Synodial measures are encouraging the…
The institution on which the family is based is in trouble and no-one cares, writes David Quinn Marriage in Ireland is changing rapidly. Fewer marry at all. We marry later. We are more likely to break up, and same-sex couples as well as opposite sex couples can legally wed. There are far more civil ceremonies…
David Quinn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Breda O'Brien
Mary Kenny