Given that the right to life follows from the dignity that we have in virtue of being human, it is inconsistent with human rights law that the life of any human being can be taken away by appeal to such dignity, writes Dr Gaven Kerr The Dying with Dignity Bill – which passed the first…

Letter from Rome Fans of the TV show The West Wing probably remember an episode in which an internal White House memo is leaked to the press accusing President Josiah Bartlett of timidity and compromising his positions to placate critics. In response, Chief of Staff Leo McGarry crafts a strategy of ‘Let Bartlett be Bartlett’,…

The treatment that President Donald Trump has received to fight Covid-19 has turned the focus on an experimental drug that shows promise in combating the coronavirus but is raising ethical questions about the cell line that helped researchers develop the medicine. At the centre of attention is the ‘cocktail’ of antibodies in the drug called…

Notebook To light a candle or not to light a candle, that is the question. Or to put it more pointedly, when the HSE advises churches not to permit people to light candles, should the advice be heeded or ignored? The HSE’s most recent comprehensive statement of ‘Covid-19 Guidance for Religious Services’ were last updated…

In the search for a cheap headline, truth is the first casualty – that’s why good journalism matters, writes Michael Kelly The well-known Dominican preacher Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP wrote recently about his increasing disenchantment with the mainstream press. “The media is relentless in attacking the Church,” he writes. “Every day there is verbal abuse,…

The Belfast-born poet Derek Mahon, who died last week, aged 78, after a short illness, was rightly acclaimed as one of the finest poets of our time. I knew Derek (along with his late wife Doreen) as a friend and a neighbour – when our children were young they played together in London’s Kensington. The…

The View Over 50 years, the work of peace and reconciliation in counteracting the ugly and protracted outbreak of violence has been facilitated by patient outreach and genuine effort at mutual understanding engaged in by Christians of different backgrounds. This has often involved painful and self-critical examination of the causes of conflict, where conflict itself…

Skibbereen convent fire is a tragic reminder of what we have to lose, writes Ruadhán Jones After the penal laws were lifted in the early 19th Century, there was an explosion in the number of convents being built in Ireland. So many were built, that they became a common sight across the country, and to…

The vocations crisis is rooted in a social, cultural and ecclesial landscape that has changed radically in the last 20 years, writes Fr Tomás Surlis The return to seminary this year was particularly challenging, given the current pandemic. However, we approached the challenge with vigour, since the experience of a common life is central to…