The eventual successor to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin faces many immediate challenges writes Michael Kelly In an era of flourishing faith, plentiful vocations and widespread esteem for the Church, being a bishop in Ireland was an attractive prospect for any ambitious cleric. It used to be said that when a priest was elevated to the…
Today’s PC versions of fairy tales may date very quickly, writes David Quinn It’s Christmas and so that means its panto season. Thousands of parents up and down the country will bring their children to a version of timeless, classical fairy tales like Snow White at the Tivoli Theatre. But wait, are they timeless…
Aid worker Kevin Byrne reflects with Kevin Jenkinson on 30-years helping the world’s poorest people Seasoned aid worker Kevin Byrne has been on the frontline of many of the world’s largest human catastrophes with Concern Worldwide – which has been fighting extreme poverty for 50 years. Known affectionately as ‘the Clareman with the Dublin…
Freedom of conscience is a human right and should not be thwarted by any government or body, writes Dr Aisling Bastible Hundreds of general practitioners from all over the country attended an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held by the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) in Malahide at the weekend. They were hoping to…
What’s still unfinished in your life? Well, there’s always a lot that’s unfinished in everyone’s life. Nothing is ever really finished. Our lives, it seems, are simply interrupted by our dying. Most of us don’t complete our lives, we just run out of time. So, consciously or unconsciously, we make a bucket-list of things we…
Black Friday is the new December 8! For many years there was a great Irish tradition of the pre-Christmas shopping season beginning on the Holy Day, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. People from all over the country would flock to Dublin or their nearest shopping town to take in the festive atmosphere.…
President Michael D. Higgins spoke last weekend about the “scourge” of violence against women – there is a global campaign this week and next to halt this horrible offence. Who would disagree with him, or the purpose of the campaign? Gender-based violence – sometimes called domestic abuse, since it often takes place in the home…
The View Being Catholic means being neither right-wing nor left-wing. It means embracing the social teaching on the Church on major issues and using prudential judgement in less important areas. There is a growing phenomenon of young men and some young women who tend to be right-wing economically but also to oppose abortion. Let’s…
It is essential for the doctors of today to fight for the rights of the doctors of tomorrow, writes Dr Keith Holmes Several generations past in Ireland, the vast majority of doctors were Catholics who came from Catholic families; if, as students, they wished to go to Trinity College, then various ecclesiastical permissions had…
There must be a right to share the Good News in a peaceful way, writes David Quinn Let’s suppose for the sake of the argument that somewhere in deepest, darkest Ireland explorers stumbled across an undiscovered tribe of Irish people still living in the Stone Age. The question would immediately arise, what should we…
Michael Kelly
David Quinn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Mary Kenny
Breda O'Brien