Category: Comment & Analysis

Protecting those who would protect our youngest

The View   Ireland has a proud record of environmental protection.  It is good to see the concern which enables the continued protection of pygmy stoats, red squirrels, otters, pine martens, badgers, hares, all bat and deer species, the Natterjack Toad and the Common Newt, almost all resident wild birds, the White-clawed Crayfish, the Freshwater…

Sticking with a battered Church despite everything

Our Christian faith ultimately rests on Christ himself, writes David Quinn   The faith of many Catholics has suffered another battering recently because of the latest eruption of public anger over abuse scandals. In Germany, a report commissioned by the Catholic bishops there shows that over a 70-year period, more than 3,000 priests have been…

An innocent abroad

There is reason to speculate on how well prepared the Pope was for his Irish trip, writes Greg Daly   “It is not enough to turn the page. Life must be given anew.” This quote from Pope Francis headlined the La Civiltà Cattolica account last week of the August 25 meeting between the Pope and…

Are young people the future of the Church?

Chai Brady discusses the upcoming Synod on Youth   As the Church comes closer to a major discussion on young people, it’s worth taking note of the aims and processes behind what it hopes to address: a crisis in reaching youth. The Synod on Youth will be held in the Vatican from October 3-28 on…

‘Men’s Sheds for the soul?’

The Notebook Fr Vincent Sherlock   For 21 years I have had the chance to spend a few weeks each year in a parish in the diocese of Rockville Centre, New York – two years in one and the past 19 in another. It seems strange perhaps to combine holidays with working in a parish…