Inés
 San
 Martín   Typically, Pope Francis and German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich are considered allies. Recently, however, the two men offered contrasting takes on the legacy of one of the modern world’s most influential social and political movements – ironically enough, ‘Marxism.’ While the Bavarian cardinal said in a recent interview that the father of…

Dreaming is sometimes the most realistic thing we can do. Or, is there still something else we might do, like public protest, or something else? In his book on prophecy, Commandments for the Long Haul, Daniel Berrigan offers this advice. Prophetic gestures aren’t always politically effective. Often they accomplish nothing that’s practical; but he adds:…

Ireland has been named one of the most equal societies in the world, but one remaining field of inequality, we are told, is between the young and the old. About 60% of the wealth of the State is in the hands of those over 55, even though this age-group is just less than a quarter…

Fr Andrew McMahon   Considerable consternation was caused in recent days when graffiti appeared on the outside of two northern Catholic churches around 30 miles apart. St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh was defaced overnight on Sunday, April 22, while in the Co. Tyrone village of Carrickmore, St Colmcille’s Church was daubed with paint sometime the…

Far from being a fallacy, the ‘slippery slope’ is all too often all too real, writes David Quinn   I sometimes wonder what it would take to persuade liberals that the ‘slippery slope’ is a reality. I’ve come across various articles lately claiming it is a myth and that whenever traditionalists claim a certain dire consequence…

Letter from Rome   While there are undoubtedly many ways to measure the greatness of an idea, here’s one: when it outlives its original application, and becomes a permanent part of a much larger reality. That, in short, is the story of Catholic Voices, which is undoubtedly the most successful Catholic communications initiative of the…

Inés San Martín   Condemning repeated killings of innocent Nigerians by ethnic militias in the country’s north-eastern region, Nigeria’s Catholic bishops have said that the government should “encourage and empower” citizens to protect themselves, and also called President Muhammadu Buhari to resign over failures to deter violence. “This is not the time to disarm people with…

Cardinal Francis George was once asked what he thought of the radical pacifism of people like Dorothy Day and Daniel Berrigan, prophetic figures who believed in absolute nonviolence. How can this be practical, he was asked, it’s utterly naïve to believe that we can live without police and without soldiers. This was his reply: the…