Ellen’s Coyne journey through faith could have been gripping – unfortunately it ended up confirming her pre-existing beliefs writes Michael Kelly I was 17-years-old in 1996 when then finance minister Ruairi Quinn referred to Ireland as what he described as a “post-Catholic, pluralist republic”. The comments provoked controversy at the time with many people asking whether…
Bishop Paul Dempsey tells Ruadhán Jones about the integral role the Church can play post-Covid Today, religion is often viewed as a “risk factor for division… at worst, as a problem to be solved”, according to a lengthy new report by the Free Church of England. Religious views are seen as divisive barriers to progress…
Letter from Argentina Self-described as the “light blue majority” and backed by polls that show most Argentines oppose legalisation of abortion pushed by the government, thousands of families rallied in 400 cities across Pope Francis’s native country last Saturday to voice support for the life of the unborn child and that of the expectant mother.…
J.D. Flynn Washington’s Cardinal, made a cardinal last weekend, told a journalist on November 24 that in his diocese, he will not deny Communion to a politician who has pledged to enshrine access to abortion in federal law and permit federal funding of abortions. That politician is President-elect Joe Biden. Archbishop Wilton Gregory’s comment is…
Nearly 50 years ago Henri Nouwen wrote a book entitled, The Wounded Healer. Its reception established his reputation as unique spiritual mentor and he went on to become one of the most influential spiritual writers of the past half-century. What made his writings so powerful? His brilliance? His gift for expression? He was gifted, yes,…
Notebook Dear Mary, It’s Advent time again, which for you equates to the last month of your pregnancy all those years ago. Down through the years a lot has been said and written about your son’s birth in Bethlehem. Famous artists have tried to depict not only that famous night but also the day you…
Pope Francis spoke recently about supporting civil unions for homosexual people, and it’s not the first time he has made that point. He did so as Archbishop of Buenos Aires. He has always been keen to emphasise that gay Catholics are part of the family and that is a point that would, I think, be…
The View As a people we had come to take our way of life with all its freedoms for granted – the right to freedom of speech, of thought, of conscience, of privacy, of family life, the right of freedom of assembly…so many rights. For many of us they just were our rights and we…
Letter from Rome Within the last few days, two completely separate lawsuits have been filed in two different countries that somehow involve the Vatican. In the United States, four alleged sex abuse victims of ex-cardinal and ex-priest Theodore McCarrick are suing the Vatican, while in Italy Cardinal Angelo Becciu has filed a $12 million defamation…
In that brief intermezzo over the summer between what turned out to be the first and second great surges of the Covid-19 pandemic, Pope Francis held a series of appropriately socially distanced, “virtual” conversations with his premier English-language explicator about what he believes needs to be done for the world to be better than it…
Michael Kelly
Ruadhán Jones
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Mary Kenny
Nuala O’Loan
John L. Allen Jr.