When the Romans designed crucifixion as their means of capital punishment, they had more in mind than simply putting someone to death. They wanted to accomplish something else too, namely, to make this death a spectacle to serve as the ultimate deterrent so that anyone seeing it would think twice about committing the offense for…
The Notebook Fr Conor McDonough There’s a strange paradox at the heart of modern celebrity culture. On the one hand, thanks to Instagram, celebrities are the object of unprecedented interest, love, envy and devotion. Pop stars and influencers all have their ‘fandoms’, hordes of utterly devoted fans who spend large parts of their free…
I have a cousin, whose judgement I respect, who regards Dr Michael Mosley as an infallible ‘health guru’. Dr Mosley has made television programmes for the BBC on diet and health, and is well known for his successful ‘fast diet’. The ‘fast diet’ recommends eating very little on two days a week – fasting – which…
The View Martin Mansergh Standing outside the church after a funeral last week, a woman volunteered that one of her antecedents had been an RIC District Inspector in North Kerry, who was shot dead by the IRA in 1921. Having just finished reading Fergal Keane’s Wounds: A Memoir of War & Love about the…
If you think you owe your parents nothing, prepare to learn they were right all along, writes David Quinn Recently I came across the following tweet from a Jewish academic in Israel by the name of Yoram Hazony: “Honour your father and mother or learn about life the hard way.” I’ve never read a…
After all, next to being pro-life, being nationalist-minded is probably the next biggest mortal sin in Irish politics, writes Pól Ó Muirí If I mention the name, Peadar Tóibín, I am sure that the words ‘pro-life’ pop into your head. If Mr Tóibín has one Unique Selling Point at the moment: it is that…
If the Church restores the female diaconate it will be up to individual bishops to decide, writes Phyllis Zagano Nearly three years ago, Pope Francis accepted the request of the International Union of Superiors General, the membership organisation of some 1,800 heads of women’s religious orders and institutes, to establish a commission to study…
Colm Fitzpatrick reports on the Pope’s visit to Morocco Greeted by King Mohammed VI, a steady rain, ululating women and cheering crowds, Pope Francis arrived in Rabat on March 30 for a 28-hour visit to Morocco. In a sign of great honour, the king rode in his limousine from the airport alongside Pope Francis…
Several years ago, in the question and answer period after a public lecture, a rather disgruntled young man asked me a question that carried with it a bit of attitude: “You seem to write a lot about sex,” he said, “do you have a particular problem with it?” My lecture had been on God’s mercy…
The Notebook Fr Bernard Healy The alarm on my phone goes off at 5.50 am. I drag myself out of bed and try to say a prayer. After all, it’s Lent! Washed and dressed, I head downstairs and meet two of my companions here in Rome’s Irish College: fellow priests, one Nigerian, another Irish.…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Mary Kenny
David Quinn
Colm Fitzpatrick