The Notebook Fr Bernard Healy Tidying up isn’t my favourite activity! I had to do a lot of it this summer when I moved from a parish assignment back to student life. Even so, I’m surprised that the latest reality show hit Tidying Up With Marie Kondo caught my attention. Now, I’ve seen…
The View Two recent incidents nudged my conscience. The first was a young woman who told me that something from one of my talks had lingered with her and she had tried to implement it. The topic mentioned was moral licensing, in the sense of feeling that I am such a good Christian that…
The State, backed up by the national broadcaster, is now trying to throttle the life out of the pro-life movement, writes David Quinn RTÉ has evidently decided that abortion is a settled issue. The matter was decided in favour of abortion by a two-to-one margin last May, and those who run the show at…
The sad truth is that a very large chunk of the blame for the collapse of Catholic Ireland must be placed squarely at the doorstep of the Church, writes David Thunder When a third of the population poured into the Phoenix Park on September 29, 1979 to celebrate Mass with Pope John Paul II,…
The Church in Ireland has a humble yet vital contribution to make to the universal Church on safeguarding, Archbishop Eamon Martin tells Michael Kelly All eyes will be in Rome next month for an unprecedented meeting of bishops to discuss the devastating issues of clerical abuse scandals in the universal Church. While the Church…
When it comes to adopted people acquiring the right to trace their birth parents, I can imagine various scenarios, drawn partly from experience of cases I’ve known. One is of an older woman who, back in the 1960s, had a baby when single. At the time, she was assured by everyone who knew of her…
Letter from Rome Famously, Pope Francis isn’t one for spending a lot of time thinking about doctrinal questions or disputes. The Pontiff often mocks theologians for obsessing over the fine print of things, recycling a quote from Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople to Pope Paul VI after an historic 1964 meeting: “We’ll bring about unity…
Claire Giangravè Dreams of having a Vatican team in the Olympic games became a bit more real on Thursday, as the Holy See officialised its presence on the sports scene by presenting an athletic association bearing the papal colours with the goal of promoting diversity and Christian values. “The dream that we have very…
No community should botch its deaths. The renowned anthropologist, Mircea Eliade, suggested this and its truth applies to communities at every level. No family should send off a member without proper reflection, ritual and blessings. On December 26, 2018, the family of art and the family of faith lost a cherished member. Sr Wendy Beckett,…
The Notebook Here are four letters guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of any parish priest or indeed parish secretary or administrator: GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). It came into effect last May and now it applies to every parish in Ireland. In the parish where I minister, it affected us in at…
Breda O'Brien
David Quinn
Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny
John L. Allen Jr.
Fr Ronald Rolheiser