It’s harder than ever to speak out against unfair criticism of the Church, writes David Quinn A few days before Christmas I posted a Tweet which pointed out that I often come across people these days who find it hard to be open about their Catholic faith both in the workplace and even sometimes in…
The View I always like to keep my Christmas decorations up until the feast of the Epiphany. The 12 days of Christmas are a very important time, and indeed in many countries gifts are not exchanged until January 6 – recognition of the fact that we commemorate on this day the arrival of the three…
Letter from America In what has been one of the darkest years in the history of the American Catholic Church, it may sound strange to speak of highlights. Yet, as the storm clouds of the clerical sexual abuse crisis overshadowed much of 2018, and lingers into 2019, looking back on the past year reveals…
Inés San Martín For a man who said that his pontificate would be a short one, Pope Francis is showing no signs of slowing down at the beginning of his seventh year as the successor of Peter. In many ways, 2018 was a roller coaster for the Argentine Pontiff who turned 82 on December…
This year I will restrict myself to focusing only on books that deal explicitly with spirituality, notwithstanding some very fine novels and books on social commentary that I read this year. But first, an apologia: taste is idiosyncratic. Keep that in mind as you read these recommendations. These are books that I liked, that spoke…
The Notebook Fr Vincent Sherlock One of my favourite childhood memories is going to Sligo with my parents on Christmas Eve. We’d go in the afternoon, spend a few hours in Sligo and call to Cloonamahon (then a Passionist Monastery near Collooney) or maybe to the Friary or Cathedral in Sligo and go to…
More people go to a church over the Christmas period than at any other time of the year. So, shouldn’t the churches use this opportunity to attract more church-going right through the year? Some might call this a modern marketing opportunity. St Paul would call it evangelisation. If I were a marketing consultant, I would…
This was a terrible year for Ireland, writes David Quinn The year just gone will go down as one of the worst, morally speaking, since Ireland gained independence in 1922. May 25 – the date of the abortion referendum – will eventually be remembered as the day when a two-to-one majority of the Irish…
The View I was on the phone to a friend recently, discussing the sorry saga of the legalising of abortion in this country when she asked me whether I was reading much about it. I said no, I was considering how to decorate our home for Christmas, which I said was much more important. This…
The ‘progress’ of Irish society has come at a high price, writes John Waters There’s an essence of Ireland that does not reside in landscape, or institutions, that rarely manifests nowadays in formal culture. It’s to be encountered chiefly in fleeting encounters with people – benign explosions of mirth and knowingness that leave you changed…
David Quinn
Nuala O’Loan
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Mary Kenny
Maria Steen