Notebook I spent my first 12 years in parish ministry as a curate, seven years in a suburban parish, then five in the commuter belt. They say a curate is “a mouse training to be a rat” (!); sometimes I wonder just how scarily effective that training was. You look at the photo adorning this…
There has been no evidence that Church gatherings are contributing to the spread of Covid-19 infection, writes Archbishop Eamon Martin It is only seldom, and on very important matters, that the four Catholic archbishops – of Armagh, Dublin, Tuam and Cashel & Emly – choose to seek a meeting with the Taoiseach. Given the strength of…
November is the month of the dead: traditionally in Ireland, the month of the Holy Souls. Elsewhere, all over Europe, ceremonies to mourn and remember the dead are held. Each November, as an Irish person resident in England (though, when Covid regulations permit, regularly in Ireland) I am faced with the same dilemma: do I…
The View In 1838, the Under-Secretary at Dublin Castle Thomas Drummond delivered a magisterial rebuke to the landlords of the Tipperary Grand Jury agitating for greater security (including my great-great grandfather), by reminding them: “Property has its duties as well as its rights.” Today, public discourse generally tends to highlight people’s rights more than their…
The authorities believe that Mass is less important than going to a gym or hairdresser and this has to be rejected, writes David Quinn In Derry, you can still go to Mass if you want, but across the border in Letterkenny you cannot. How can this be? The answer is that the North’s Executive and…
Junno Arocho Esteves Corruption is an “ancient evil” that continues to plague the Catholic Church in different ways, Pope Francis said. In an interview with the Italian news agency Adnkronos, published October 30, the Pope discussed his thoughts on several issues, including the nature of corruption given recent allegations of financial malfeasance involving the Vatican.…
In his book The Second Mountain, David Brooks suggests that a key to sustaining fidelity in any vocation is to build a structure of behavior for those moments when love falters. He’s right. Anybody who has made a commitment to be faithful for the long haul inside a marriage, a friendship, a faith community or…
Notebook My mother died seven years ago last week. I’m not sure if it is some kind of seven-year-itch combined with the effects of Covid isolation, but I have been reflecting a lot recently on the time of my mother’s illness and death. I have good and bad memories of that time. Firstly, there is…
Ever since I became interested in feminism – it was back in 1967, while in New York – I’ve observed that feminists have been concerned with one prevailing issue. This was sometimes defined as ‘having it all’ – the founder-editor of modern Cosmopolitan magazine Helen Gurley Brown coined that phrase. The British author Shirley Conran…
We are gradually moving towards a totalitarian approach to government where our freedom is slowly being stripped away from us, writes Fr Seán Mulligan It’s a short Gospel today with a very powerful message: the great commandment of love. First of all, love of God and, secondly, love of neighbour. We read that one of…
Archbishop Eamon Martin
Mary Kenny
David Quinn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser