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…

The Gospel stories about the birth of Jesus are not a simple retelling of the events that took place then, at the stable in Bethlehem. In his commentaries on the birth of Jesus, the renowned scripture scholar Raymond Brown highlights that these narratives were written long after Jesus had already been crucified and had risen…

The Notebook   Fr Conor McDonough   “What?! You shouldn’t have!” “Mum, look what Santa brought!” Christmas is a time of surprises, usually pleasant, and that’s very fitting, because it’s a feast that commemorates the greatest surprise in history, although we often forget the great surprise amid all the little ones… How often have you…

We’ve been marking the centenary of women’s suffrage – when women over 30 in Ireland and Britain were entitled to vote for the first time, in 1918 (and women over 21 were entitled to stand for election.) An enlightened advance indeed: less well-known, or well-publicised, is the fact that the Pope of the time, Benedict…

It breaks my heart to think that this Christmas children will be born into homelessness, writes Sr Stan   Christmas is a special time in the religious year as it marks the birth of Jesus. It is a time to celebrate this and a time to reflect. It is also a time we all think of our…

Faith means taking the long view, writes David Quinn   When you read the Bible it is easy to miss important ideas when you are not concentrating. How many times have I read, or listened to someone else reading, the opening chapter of St Luke’s Gospel where the Angel declares to Zechariah that his wife,…

Christopher White   In a decision that will undoubtedly create shockwaves around the globe, Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Church official to stand trial for sexual abuse, was found guilty last week by a Melbourne Court. In one of the most closely watched trials in modern Catholic Church history, after nearly four full days…

I’ve never been happy with some of my activist friends who send out Christmas cards with messages like: ‘May the Peace of Christ Disturb You!’ Can’t we have one day a year to be happy and celebrate without having our already unhappy selves shaken with more guilt? Isn’t Christmas a time when we can enjoy…