Our shifting views towards World War I 
show how fickle we can be, writes David Quinn   It is now commonplace for Irish pupils to learn the famous poem by World War I poet, Wilfred Owen, ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’. Owen was killed on the Western Front in 1917. Owen’s poem mocks the idea that…

An Irish saint championed the idea of Europe in the Dark Ages and inspired today’s European movement, writes Greg Daly   At a time when Europe’s future is uncertain and nationalist currents are on the rise, it’s worth reflecting on the ideas that first underpinned the European movement, according to Dr Alexander O’Hara. An honourary…

Michael Sainsbury   Although China and the Vatican signed a provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops in September, persecution of Chinese Catholics continues. Some believe there is considerable pushback against the Vatican-China deal from inside China’s United Front Work Department, the Communist Party-controlled religious bureaucracy, especially at a more localised level. “Many officials at…

The abortion bill is being rammed through the Oireachtas heedless of the views of huge numbers of voters, writes Denise Kelly   Last week, the Government’s abortion Bill progressed with alarming speed through one of the most crucial stages of the parliamentary process, Committee Stage. It now returns to the Dáil where a significant proportion…

Dennis Sadowski   At the urging of the Vatican, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops will not vote on two proposals they were to discuss at their Baltimore meeting regarding their response to the clergy sex abuse crisis. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, USCCB president, informed the bishops as they opened their autumn general assembly…

I live on both sides of a border. Not a geographical one, but one which is often a dividing line between two groups. I was raised a conservative Roman Catholic, and conservative in most other things as well. Although my dad worked politically for the Liberal party, most everything about my upbringing was conservative, particularly religiously.…

The Notebook   Fr Bernard Healy   Every year on November 1, after All Saints’ Day Mass, the community of the Pontifical Irish College heads to the Campo Verano Cemetery, just outside the walls of Rome, in order to pray midday prayer at the college burial vault. It’s a good way to begin the month…

Some years ago, when I was due to appear on a BBC television panel at this time of the year, the make-up girl, after powdering my face, went to pin a poppy on my lapel. The November poppy is, as most people know, a symbol of remembrance for the wartime dead of two world wars.…

We have just entered the month of the Dead. November is a time when, as Catholics, we are reminded that the dead are still with us. What, then, should we make of the increasingly gaudy – and gory – festival of Hallowe’en, just past? I must confess that I find Hallowe’en increasingly disturbing. Aside from…