Reading the Letters of Dorothy Day recently, I ran into this line, “doubtless we need a Savonarola as well as a St Francis”. She was speaking about what spirituality needs in order to be healthy and balanced. That triggered something inside me, something I have never been able to sort out. I have always been…
Notebook In recent days four people of my acquaintance have tested positive for Covid-19. The four are from different age groups and all have been fully vaccinated in recent months. In all four cases, the positive test has meant that their families and others within their circles are isolating. This personal experience is having a…
It was both predictable and inevitable that the Vatican’s “trial of the century”, featuring fraud and embezzlement charges against Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu and nine other individuals plus three corporate entities, and with the participation of attorneys representing other interested parties such as the Secretariat of State, would begin Tuesday with a whimper rather than…
On RTE a few days ago, HSE boss, Paul Reid, praised young people for coming forward for vaccinations in such large numbers thereby showing such great solidarity with older people. He linked it to similar acts of solidarity by this age group in recent years. Was he referring to the marriage and abortion referendums of…
Picture the scene: sports day in a Catholic school in Grenoble, France, in February 1856, and a confident 15-year-old student named Henri Didon wins three gold medals. This was no ordinary sports day, though. It was ‘The Olympic Games of Rondeau’. This quadrennial school festival was inaugurated in 1832, six decades before the first modern…
Twenty years ago on August 2, 2001 I wrote to the RUC Chief Constable telling him that, as Police Ombudsman, I was making enquiries into a newspaper report, on July 29, 2001, that a man called Kevin Fulton, said to be a former British security force agent, had said that had the police acted on…
Who has God’s sympathy? For whom especially should we be praying? For whom should we be asking God’s blessing? We are in the middle of the Olympic Games. What we see there are the healthiest bodies in the world, beautifully adorned with colourful spandex and youthful smiles. The Olympic Games are a celebration of health.…
Fr Silvester O’Flynn This is the third successive Sunday when our Gospel is taken from John Chapter 6, all about bread. John likes to start with something familiar like water, light or bread and to rise up step by step to divine life. Two weeks ago, we read about the multiplication of the loaves and…
What is probably the Vatican’s highest stakes trial yet began last week, featuring a cast of both new and familiar characters being indicted for an array of financial crimes. However, a surprising face reappeared on the sidelines. For those who followed the 2015-2016 “Vatileaks 2” saga, which culminated with four people being charged over the…
Boris Johnson is what’s known as a ‘Marmite’ politician. Voters either loathe him – or they warm to his bonhomie, boosterism, and even dishevelled appearance. His errors include a careless and arguably duplicitous approach to the Irish border in the context of Brexit – agreeing to a border in the Irish Sea, and then somehow…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
John L. Allen Jr.
David Quinn
Nuala O’Loan
Mary Kenny