A workshop on priestly vocation was an eye-opening experience, writes Bishop Phonsie Cullinan At the Youth 2000 Summer Retreat in Clongowes Wood College this month 39 young people gathered for a lunchtime conversation workshop on vocations to the diocesan priesthood. The gathering was initiated by the Vocations Council of the Bishops’ Conference which I…
Letter from Rome Up to this point, the ire of those who believe Cardinal George Pell is innocent of the charges of child sexual abuse brought against him in his home country has been directed largely at the Australian judiciary, most recently at a Victoria appeals court that upheld his conviction on Wednesday in…
We live in a culture that idealises youth and marginalises the old. And, as James Hillman says, the old don’t let go easily either of the throne or the drive that took them there. I know; I’m aging. For most of my life, I’ve been able to think of myself as young. Because I was…
Notebook A few months ago, Fr Tom Mulligan published a biography of Fr Patrick Peyton – The Rosary Priest. Fr Peyton was a native of the parish of Attymass, Co. Mayo, where Fr Mulligan has since been parish priest. I have no doubt it was this connection that drew him into a place where…
One of the strangest and least well-known events in European history happened 807 years ago this summer, in the year 1212. This was an era of fierce religious fervour and piety across Europe. The third crusade, which had ended 20 years earlier in 1192, had seen King Richard the Lionheart of England and King Philip…
The View 2019 is the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Troubles, while the centenary of the formation of Northern Ireland and partition fast approaches, against the backdrop of a looming hard or no-deal Brexit, all of which provide a lot to think about. Few will dispute that nationalists today are in a…
Woodstock wasn’t all peace and light, writes David Quinn It’s now 50 years since the high point of the 1960s counter-culture, namely the huge music festival that took place at Woodstock in New York state in mid-August 1969. It featured some of the biggest music acts of the day. Organisers originally estimated it would…
‘Bad companions’ – how often did I hear that expression in my schooldays. Warnings came from many quarters, including our catechism text, that ‘bad companions’ could lead us astray. Parents and guardians were often on the lookout for ‘bad companions’. I was discouraged from a friendship with a girl a couple of years older because…
Letter from Scotland A motion to remove the voting rights of religious representatives on education boards is “a serious threat to the identity” of Catholic schools in the Scottish capital, according to a spokesperson of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh. Scottish law mandates that three religious representatives serve on each school board.…
Sri Lanka’s top Catholic has called for an independent inquiry into a series of bombings that shook the country on Easter Sunday, saying investigations conducted until now have been swayed by political interests. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, said that for Sri Lankans, a parliamentary probe into the attacks “is biased because it…
John L. Allen Jr.
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
David Quinn
Mary Kenny