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…
Category: Comment & Analysis
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.…
To articulate Church teaching, one must know why the Church teaches what it does
Jacob Rees-Mogg is a colourful if somewhat eccentric member of the British Conservative Party. While still a backbencher and just seven years in the House of Commons, Mr Rees-Mogg is being tipped by some as a potential future Prime Minister. This would be quite something, since he would become Britain’s first Catholic Prime Minister. Unlike…
Inflation affects all walks of life
It’s the question priests most hate to hear: “How much is a Mass, Father?” Most priests have a standard explanation for reply, about Mass being a pearl of great price, an event of inestimable value, that the Mass can’t be bought or sold (and that attempts to trade in religious things have gotten the Church…