The Pope has raised the stakes for February’s Church summit on abuse, writes Christopher White In the Oscar-winning film Spotlight, which chronicled the Boston Globe’s devastating reporting on the first wave of the clerical sex abuse crisis in the US, one of the reporters remarks that “the Catholic Church thinks in centuries”. When Cardinal…
Our natural instincts serve us well, to a point. They’re self-protective and that’s healthy too, to a point. Let me explain. Recently I was at a football game with a number of friends. We arrived at the game in two cars and parked in the stadium’s underground parking lot. Our tickets were in different parts…
Fr Vincent Sherlock It was one of those celebrity interviews. The interviewee was speaking about social media, his own use of it and value it has for him. He spoke too about the fears he has in maybe mistakenly using it and sending out a message that might be stupid, insensitive, mis-judged or hurtful.…
Since I have little experience of academia, I cannot say whether Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor is acting judiciously in proposing to appoint female-only chairs to universities in Ireland. Some say that a 50-50 gender distribution needs an imaginative push with affirmative action, since women aren’t, apparently, being appointed in sufficient numbers to professorships. Others say…
The View Martin Mansergh Commemoration of the ending of the First World War on Sunday, November 11, both here in Ireland and at the international ceremony in France where world leaders gathered, was conducted with great dignity and solemnity. The sacrifices of those who fought were acknowledged, but with the message that such…
Christians are free to disagree about the EU, writes David Quinn Ireland is rather smug just now about the whole Brexit situation. We believe that Britain has landed itself in a big mess (and it has) and we seem to be thoroughly enjoying its discomfort. I’m not sure we should be though, and there…
Ireland’s looming abortion law exposes key contradictions in left-wing thought, writes Greg Daly “Follow the money,” may be the most famous phrase penned by the legendary Hollywood screenwriter William Goldman, who died last week. Uttered by the mysterious ‘Deep Throat’ source in the 1976 Watergate blockbuster All the President’s Men, it’s useful advice and…
‘Widows, orphans, and strangers’ – that’s code in scripture for the three most vulnerable groups within a society at any given time. And both the great Jewish prophets and Jesus, himself, assure us that ultimately we will be judged by how we treated these while we were alive. It’s interesting to look at any given…
The Notebook Fr Conor McDonough The choir of King’s College, Cambridge is often associated with the Christmas season. For many of my English friends, the sound of Carols from King’s on the BBC on Christmas Eve is the sign that Christmas has well and truly begun. But I associate them above all with…
What kind of a doctor is eager to perform abortions? Perhaps that’s a question for Health Minister Simon Harris. To be fair to the medical profession, I don’t think that most doctors do like to carry out abortions. Some may do so if they feel it’s called for, clinically, but most – in my experience…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Mary Kenny
David Quinn
Greg Daly