Notebook Dear Sr Lelia, You will be surprised to see this letter which is almost 50 years too late but please bear with me. Last week I participated in a beautiful celebration to mark the 150th anniversary of your congregation, the Sisters of St John of God. This celebration has brought me into something of…

The event marking partition was always going to be a highwire act from a Catholic point of view, but history will remember the ceremony well, writes Michael Kelly Leaders of the country’s Christian traditions have vowed to face “difficult truth” and work closer together to ensure that the fragile peace process in the North leaves…

In the current James Bond movie – No Time to Die – the villain, name of Safin, is played by an actor showing facial scarring (although Rami Malek’s facial markings are purely the product of the make-up department). And he’s not the first Bond villain to be a ‘scarface’. And it’s certainly unchristian to imply…

The View Campaigns to make euthanasia/assisted suicide legal are underway in both England and Wales, and here in Ireland. The most recent bill was before the House of Lords on Friday. We had just three minutes each to make the case against the bill…a challenge! That was very little time in which to contemplate the…

Networks set up to make life more interactive also operate in a more insidious way by harming your peace of mind, writes David Quinn In George Orwell’s 1984 it was ‘Big Brother’ who was constantly watching us. ‘Big Brother’ was the totalitarian state – it wanted to control every aspect of our lives, shaping our…

Letter from Rome After the death earlier this year of a close friend and former colleague, Benedict XVI wrote a letter to the monastery to which his late friend belonged in which he offered condolences, and said he hoped his journey to the afterlife would not be long in coming. German priest and Cistercian monk…

Even though Pope Francis will not attend the 26th UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in person, the Vatican delegation and the Catholic Church will be “everywhere” during the two-week summit – from the highest-level private negotiations to the sidelines with grassroots “social action” and community-led events, said two delegates. And most importantly, Church representatives…

Notebook Probably the best-loved poem written in the Irish language begins with the words ‘Messe ocus Pangur Bán’. In Robin Flower’s translation, the first stanza reads: “I and Pangur Bán my cat,/‘Tis a like task we are at:/Hunting mice is his delight,/Hunting words I sit all night.” It was probably written at some point in…

Are older people kinder and more considerate of others than the younger generations? Yes, they are, according to a global study carried out by the University of Birmingham – involving more than 46,000 people in 67 countries. During the Covid-19 pandemic, older people were more likely to maintain social distancing for the benefit of others,…