Elise Harris Driving home his defence of migrants and refugees, Pope Francis told Bulgarian Catholics this week that the Church must always be a supportive community whose doors are open to all, especially those who are far away from home. As he often has in the past, the Pope in his May 6 speech…
Hell is never a nasty surprise waiting for a basically happy person. Nor is it necessarily a predicable ending for an unhappy, bitter person. Can a happy, warm-hearted person go to Hell? Can an unhappy, bitter person go to Heaven? That’s all contingent upon how we understand Hell and how we read the human heart.…
The Notebook Fr Bernard Healy The whole Catholic world comes on pilgrimage to Rome, but where do the Romans themselves go on pilgrimage? Many head to Lourdes, Fatima and San Giovanni Rotondo like the rest of us, but the pilgrimage site that has a special place in the hearts of many Romans is Divino…
Ireland’s religious orders are increasingly facing financial challenges, write Greg Daly, Chai Brady and Colm Fitzpatrick The frantic call for funds to restore Notre Dame de Paris after the disastrous fire at the start of Holy Week will have baffled many, as will have done stories some months ago about how Ireland’s Diocese of Waterford…
When people of my generation look back at the subject of sex education, I think many would conclude that it was frankly woeful. Basically, there wasn’t any ‘education’ in what was then known, euphemistically, although not untruthfully, as ‘the facts of life’. It was considered indelicate to explain too much, and much energy was expended…
Greg Daly, Chai Brady and Colm Fitzpatrick Headline figures from the Charities Regulator can be somewhat misleading, according to Fr Bill Toner, Treasurer of Ireland’s Jesuits, who explains that in the first place the Irish province’s accounts are divided between a range of trusts. “What happened with us is that the treasurer way, way…
The View Martin Mansergh The Easter period in the Christian calendar is a time of both death and resurrection. When tragedy strikes, there is a challenge, when people are faced by a great and wholly unexpected setback to try and find a transformative response. Three such events occurred around this Easter. The largest-scale events…
A Belfast-based priest remains modest about how his words pricked the conscience of politicians, writes Colm Fitzpatrick When a Belfast-based priest gave the homily at the funeral of a murdered journalist last month, it wasn’t expected that his words would have any long-term effect. The remarks would, of course, touch the hearts and minds…
Mothers and fathers are different and we shouldn’t be afraid to say so, writes David Quinn This is a very strange and contradictory Government. On the one hand it is preparing a new law that will allow a couple not to record themselves on a birth certificate as the mother and father of their…
Simon Harris has halted funds needed to preserve women’s lives in order to pay for abortion, writes Niamh Uí Bhriain Last year, we were repeatedly told that Irish women would be safer in pregnancy if the Eighth Amendment was repealed. In fact, when opinion polls showed support for repeal was slipping, The Irish Times rushed…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Mary Kenny
Colm Fitzpatrick
David Quinn