“To say that he suffered from a ‘mental illness’ is to suggest that people with a mental illness are inclined to be psychopathic killers”, writes Mary Kenny I’ll never forget Michael Parkinson, the television host, telling me about his experiences as a young reporter in the north of England during 1966, when he was sent…
Category: Comment & Analysis
If Hell is a reality, priests should preach about it
It’s wrong for clerics to use the excuse of a past overemphasis on fire and damnation to avoid talk of the reality of rejecting God, writes David Quinn Pope Francis has something of a cuddly image with the general public and with many priests. The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), for example, wants the incoming…
Pope Francis could use visit to right a wrong
Finola Kennedy The Jesuit Pope might visit the shrine of a colleague, but there’s another nearby tomb he could consider as well, writes Finola Kennedy When stepping down from the role of Taoiseach, both Charlie Haughey and Brian Cowen quoted household names: William Shakespeare and John F. Kennedy respectively. Not so Bertie Ahern who quoted…
Coming full circle from story books to spirituality
My first love was literature, novels and poetry. As a child, I loved story books, mysteries and adventures. In grade school, I was made to memorise poetry and loved the exercise. High school introduced me to more serious literature, Shakespeare, Kipling, Keats, Wordsworth, Browning. On the side, I still read story books, cowboy tales from…
The power of the Sacred Heart to lead us home
Recently my brother and his wife renovated our family home where we all grew up. I was very happy that along with the many wonderful changes they have made they retained the Sacred Heart lamp and picture which had been there since my late father and mother moved in almost 60 years ago. The practice…
Making a desert and calling it progress
In trying to eradicate Ireland’s Christian heritage, secularists could destroy Ireland’s identity, writes David Quinn Once French presidential candidate, Francois Fillon, was damaged by the scandal of paying his wife and family out of public funds for jobs that seemingly did not exist, it was inevitable that Emmanuel Macron would win the French election. Le…
Despite it all, Francis and Trump may just hit it off
The Pope and the American president are surprisingly similar, writes John Allen Jr. Pope Francis recently met with the Vatican’s communications brain trust, urging them to use “a little violence, but good, good violence” in order to create new and more effective ways of getting the Church’s message across. If the Vatican really wants to…
Despair as weakness rather than sin
Classically, both in the world and in our churches, we have seen despair as the ultimate, unforgivable sin. The simple notion was that neither God, nor anyone else, can save you if you simply give up, despair, make yourself impossible to reach. Most often in the popular mind this was applied to suicide. To die…
The parish is the primary religious community
Over the last 20 years or so, I’ve noticed that many with a vocation to priesthood have headed for religious communities like the Dominicans or Franciscans rather than diocesan life. Mothers have expressed their relief that this was their sons’ choice, rather than what they perceived as the loneliness of diocesan life. I’ve often wondered…
Why let truth and facts get in the way of a good story?
“You’d want to be a fool not to be aware of the powerful forces that are at work”, writes Michael Kelly Hardly a week goes by without more venom and innuendo against Catholics and their faith in the mainstream media. Now, here’s where certain commentators try to accuse Catholics of media-bashing. But, that’s often little…