Revelations of psychological and sexual abuse of a number of women by Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche, have sent shockwaves across the world. Thoughts quickly turned first to the victims who experienced his manipulation and abuse, and who had been preyed upon when they were at their most vulnerable, seeking spiritual counsel; then to all…

It’s almost 1,600 years since St Patrick set foot on Irish soil and transformed the world with the life-giving message of the Gospel. This year, his feastday on March 17 will be noticeable more for the absence of commemoration than any celebrations. Fears around the coronavirus have forced the cancellation of the secular celebrations that…

Eoin Wrenn My recent visit to Ethiopia reinforced just how vulnerable some countries in Africa are to climate change but also gave me hope that communities can, and indeed are, adapting to the challenges posed by this crisis. I was privileged to spend a few days close to the border of Eritrea where Trócaire has…

In business as in life, one of the killer phrases is “we’ve never done it that way before”. In the Church context we might well add: “We tried that before and it didn’t work.” Those who seek to calibrate our lives and actions by the light of the Gospel would do well to be wary…

The View With one election over, we await another: the Seanad election. Of the 60 seats in the senate, six are allocated to the university panel. The other 54 are filled by the Taoiseach’s nominees and those nominated by the Vocational Panels. The university panel electorate is small, at only 175,000 between Trinity and NUI.…

Fr Eugene O’Neill Few things are calculated to raise the hackles of hardworking priests in parishes more than being told how it should be done by fellow clerics with fewer years in the Lord’s Vineyard under their belt. I once turned to an older colleague – a man of depth, wisdom and vast experience –…

Notebook We are still in the early days of Lent so maybe there’s space here for a thought or two around the journey to and through repentance. There is a call to repentance that is central to the Lenten season. I recall sitting in the church one morning, a while before Mass.  This is something…

Larry Donnelly At a recent town hall forum sponsored by Fox News, likely Democratic primary voters had a chance to interact with the 38-year-old Mayor of South Bend, Indiana and then a candidate for his party’s presidential nomination, Pete Buttigieg. One possibly unexpected and trying question came from Kristen Day, head of the Democrats for…

My inclinations are to regard the hullaballoo about the coronavirus – Covid19 – with a pinch of salt. Yes, it’s upsetting that more than 3,000 people world-wide have died from the epidemic: but (at the time of writing) that’s out of 90,933 who have caught it. To put it in perspective, the World Health Organisation…