The Irish Synodal Pathway has entered a significant new phase as seven newly established national ‘Working Groups’, comprising 64 lay, religious and clerical members, have begun applying years of prayerful, listening and communal discernment into practical proposals for the National Synodal Assembly on October 17 next at City North Hotel in Co. Meath. After five…
Last week, I was delighted to join the National Association of Diocesan Advisors (Post Primary) at their annual Conference in Athlone. In my presentation, I invited the DAs to look to the future. I walked them along a familiar path, examining trends in secularisation, demographic shifts and the changing and growing demands and expectations placed…
I arrived in Canada in mid-January. A few days later, I headed to a government office to get my first monthly Senior Bus Pass. I went armed with evidence that I was eligible; passport, driving licence, every proof I could think of. The assistant didn’t look at any of my IDs but proceeded to issue…
A Colloquia took place at the Institute of Political Studies, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, earlier this month entitled ‘Restless World, Restless Democracies’. It was the third event in an annual series, the purpose of which is – as its chief organiser Prof. Lívia Franco put it – to serve as a laboratory for ideas. This…
Good news not being thick on the ground these days, I’m delighted to note some very good news from the mother country: on April 24, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill failed to gain passage in the United Kingdom’s House of Lords, thus ending, for now, the efforts to legalise assisted suicide in…
The outcome of the Giggle v Tickle court case in Australia last week (c. May 14) is no laughing matter. Former film screenwriter Sall Grover set up the Giggle for Girls app for women to make contact with each other, and it used a facial recognition feature to screen out any men who tried to…
Since the introduction of the Munster round-robin championship in 2018, Waterford have failed to emerge from the province even once. Their only appearance beyond Munster came in the unique circumstances of the 2020 straight knockout Covid championship, when they reached an All-Ireland final behind closed doors. Once again, the Déise’s summer is effectively over before…
At the Provincial Chapter of 2016, the Irish Dominican Province faced a painful but necessary decision. Owing to a lack of vocations over the previous fifty years, it was decided that several communities—both in Ireland and abroad—would have to close. Some of these houses had histories stretching back almost eight centuries. It was a deeply…
Justice Minister, and possible future Fianna Fáil leader, Jim O’Callaghan made an interesting comment a few days ago when he said that our high rates of income tax are “imprudent, demoralising and contrary to the public good.” His reference to the public good was particularly interesting because he might as well have said the “common…
As a mother, I would do anything to spare my children unnecessary pain. Any parent knows the instinct to shield their child and the desire to absorb their suffering whenever possible. In many ways, this is what defines parenthood: the adult’s willingness to ‘suffer for’ a child’s good. Surrogacy, on the other hand, begins with…
George Weigel
David Quinn