The Notebook A cousin was speaking with me recently and she told me she was in London for a weekend, with her two young sons, to visit her sister and family. They went for a day trip to London and travelled on a number of trains and by underground. Later in the evening, her younger…
I am not registered to vote in the current election, so my perspective is, perhaps, somewhat detached. But I certainly admired John Waters for deciding to run as an independent candidate for the constituency of Dun Laoghaire. John is from Roscommon but has lived for most of his adult life in the former port town.…
The Kingdom of God is not just a future hope. It is a present reality and it is marked by attitudes such as gentleness and mercy, commitment to peace, hunger for what is right and commitment to the truth (Mt. 5). It is closely connected with our care for those who are hungry and thirsty,…
Catholics must vote as Catholics on election day, writes David Quinn Election time again, and if you’re pro-life it’s a very strange one because it is the first since the May 2018 abortion referendum. In previous campaigns, the focus of the pro-life movement was to support candidates and parties who were pro-life, or at…
If Scottish MPs can decide for Northern Ireland, doesn’t the opposite apply, asks Pól Ó Muirí It is one of the most famous lines in Irish drama: “What is the stars, Joxer, what is the stars?” Spoken by Captain Boyle in Seán O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock, it speaks of tumultuous times in Irish…
Letter from Rome The controversy surrounding retired Pope Benedict XVI’s contribution to a new book on priestly celibacy demonstrates just how much both substance and appearances matter. And, as far as substance goes, the book paid scant attention to the uninterrupted presence of married priests in all but two of the Eastern Catholic churches. Published…
According to one bishop, Nicaragua has been living a “moral cold war” since the civil uprising that has left hundreds of people dead began in April 2018; Colombia is no longer in a state of “emergency, but of social survival”; and the papal representative in Chile shared his thoughts on the situation of the local…
Recently on the popular US television program Saturday Night Live, a comedian made a rather colourful wisecrack in response to an answer that Nancy Pelosi had given to a journalist who had accused her of hating the President. Pelosi had stated that, as a Roman Catholic, she hates no one – and this prompted the…
Notebook On a recent episode of RTÉ’s Operation Transformation, one of the people featured made incredible strides in improving her health and losing weight. She joined a weekly walking group and looks forward to the meeting each week. I hope I am not doing her a disservice, but I think she described it as “the…
The Harry-and-Meghan saga rumbles on, and one reason for the attention it is given is that people see it as a focus for dissecting family relationships. Let’s face it: we all have complications within our family constellation. There may be a problematic uncle who seems to have let the side down. There is possibly a…
Mary Kenny
David Quinn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser