As Ireland becomes some kind of strange hybrid Catholic/post-Catholic/secular/New Age society which none of us fully understands, the Church finds itself affected in all sorts of ways, not least what happens at big events like baptisms, First Holy Communion, Confirmation, weddings, and funerals. It is at these events that lots of post-Catholics, cultural Catholics, ‘bouncy…

After more than thirty years working in Catholic education I have learned not to be alarmed easily by legislative change. Education is constantly evolving. Policies change. Language adapts. Governments revise frameworks. But every so often, a development occurs that points to something much deeper than routine reform. It signals a change in first principles. Last…

The paradox at the heart of the current Irish media landscape is that the broadcasting regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, wants to maintain public trust and combat disinformation at the same time as it uncritically adopts gender identity beliefs. Pushing the belief that men can be women and that women are not entitled to single-sex spaces…

Ireland is often described as a land unusually rich in the art of written memory, with a wealth of books, illuminated manuscripts, and a deep tradition of scholastic learning. From the early Middle Ages, its monasteries produced a vast array of annals, genealogies, saints’ vitae, and legal texts in seemingly unprecedented quantities. The Irish monasteries…

Various expert reports suggest that around 2% of the world’s population is transgender (trans). In other words, the number of people feeling that their gender identity does not align with their biological sex is very small. This condition is also known as gender dysphoria. In the worlds of medicine and psychotherapy, there is deep disagreement…

There’s a programme on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday evenings called ‘The Moral Maze’ (which my colleague Brendan O’Regan has on occasions reviewed). It approaches a series of topical questions within the framework not just of debate, but with the focus on the moral analysis. What is the right thing to do? What is the…

It was a parish priest who gave award-winning Irish filmmaker Campbell Miller the break he so badly needed. Without the encouragement of Fr Colin Crossey, from Newcastle, Co. Down, Miller might not have pursued his talent which is about to be showcased in the United States. His latest docudrama, St Patrick – The Hidden Years,…

Recently, I had three encounters with modern technology in the space of a few weeks. Each one left me thinking — not so much about machines, but about what it means to be human… and Church. The first happened in a restaurant. I scanned a code on the table to read the menu, placed my…

People in Ireland and across the world have watched with horror as Ayatollah Khameinei’s regime has terrorised Iran’s people for over four decades, torturing, executing and disappearing people. There has been ongoing resistance by the people. Iran executed over 1,000 people last year, and some 52 already this year – men, women, and children, anyone…

I have a friend who is a computer wizard, and who tells me that Artificial Intelligence is developing apace – bigger, faster and more widespread with every month that passes – and I should get more involved with AI programmes. Its use increased by 61% across all countries in 2025. The growth is accelerating in…