I’m sometimes asked by dioceses and religious congregations for advice on vocations strategies. I don’t have anything close to all the answers, but I’m happy to share my experiences of what I have seen work elsewhere in terms of fostering a culture of vocations and how one might go about communicating a life-encompassing commitment…
Category: Comment & Analysis
Minister Bruton takes aim at RE once again
Has Education Minister, Richard Bruton, yet said something that is friendly and supportive of the role and place of faith schools in Irish society? Much of the time Minister Bruton sounds like a spokesman for Equate, the pressure group that campaigns against the rights of faith schools in the name of ‘equality’. Minister Bruton gives…
When it comes to sport, politics should be left at the gate
Should sport be politicised? It’s surely a pity when it is. The spat between President Trump and the American National Football League probably has some merit on both sides: the footballers, mostly young black men, are entitled to demonstrate their antipathy towards the President’s alleged race attitudes, by kneeling on one knee, rather…
Glaring contradictions as Oireachtas debates life and death
David Mullins Charles Dickens famously opened his novel A Tale of Two Cities with the immortal line: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” Anyone who was paying close attention to recent proceedings in Leinster House would have observed…
An Irish aversion to friendly advice
Fr Martin Delaney There was an interesting exchange between Rory McElroy and his then caddie JP Fitzgerald during the opening round of this year’s British Open at Royal Birkdale. McElroy had a disastrous start and after six holes he was already five over and facing the humiliation of missing the cut for the third successive…
Our struggle with riches
A number of years ago I attended a funeral. The man to whom we were saying goodbye had enjoyed a full and rich life. He’d reached the age of 90 and was respected for having been both successful and honest. But he’d always been a strong man, a natural leader, a man who took charge…
Are young Catholics drawn towards the Latin Mass?
Peadar Laighléis As long as I can remember, attracting young people to the Church has been a hot topic. There have been many trials: folk Masses, youth festivals and Taizé evenings, for example. None have proved to be a magic bullet. I don’t believe there is a single answer to this problem, but we could…
Hook has been put on trial for questioning the maxims of a permissive society
Fr Andrew McMahon For those aware of the recent storm engulfing Newstalk radio’s George Hook, but unfamiliar with its origins, let’s recall the basic facts: at the start of his High Noon programme on September 8, the broadcaster was drawing attention to stories in the news. One was a British court case in which a…
Challenging the liberal narrative of ever more progress
Those of a liberal persuasion tend to congratulate themselves on the changes that have taken place in Irish society over the last few decades as we have become more ‘tolerant’, more ‘compassionate’, more ‘open-minded’ and more ‘mature’. They like to remind us of ‘how far we have come’ compared with the Ireland of say, the…
Chancellor Angela Merkel – poster girl of the pastors’ kids
As Angela Merkel faces a virtual coronation as sovereign of Europe, the biographies of the lady are coming thick and fast. Five new tomes have been published in recent weeks – two in German, one each in English, French and Dutch. Her background as a Lutheran pastor’s daughter is highlighted in all these Merkel studies.…