The grandchildren are getting all ready for Hallowe’en with their witches and warlocks and wizards’ costumes. Let’s not rain on their parade, I ponder. The turning of the seasons has to be marked by some ritual and if it’s a pagan one – which has endured and even been re-invigorated – then that’s the way…

Kathleen Dowling Singh, RIP   No community should botch its deaths. That’s a wise statement from Mircea Eliade and apropos in the face of the death two weeks ago of Kathleen Dowling Singh. Kathleen was a hospice worker, a psychotherapist, and a very deep and influential spiritual writer. She is known and deeply respected among…

Fr Conor McDonough   ‘Post tenebras lux’ (‘Light after the darkness’), the motto of Calvin’s Geneva, is proposed by some as a summary of the Reformation. After the darkness of the Middle Ages, the previously hidden light of the Word of God is unleashed by Luther and his followers who come armed with vernacular Bibles,…

Participating in a feminist conversation in Northern Ireland last weekend (held at the stunning Mount Stewart stately home in Newtownards), I listened to a distinguished Oxford historian express her hopes that the coming Irish referendum on the Eighth Amendment “would give feminism a unified focus”. I very much hope that the abortion referendum will not…

Martin Mansergh Few statues are not offensive to somebody. Fellow adviser, writer Anthony Cronin, once suggested that the statue of Fr Mathew should be removed from O’Connell Street, as it was offensive to drinkers. Fr Mathew warned the Irish poor against consumption of strong spirits, or they might soon find themselves before the bar of…

Various experts have been appearing before the Oireachtas Committee that is considering what wording to put before the Irish people in next year’s abortion referendum. Much of the focus on the hearings to date has been on their alleged bias. More on this anon, what is far more important is what was said last week…

Spirituality   Nobel-prizing winning author, Toni Morrison, assessing the times, asks this question: “Why should we want to know a stranger when it is easier to estrange another? Why should we want to close the distance when we can close the gate?” Except this isn’t a question, it’s a judgment. It’s a negative judgment on…

I once carried out a survey of priests in a deanery conference regarding weddings and funerals. People generally would see a wedding as a happy occasion, something to enjoy, while funerals might be seen as events to be avoided. The priests in my circle were asked which they preferred to be involved in leading –…

Editor’s Comment   I’m not one for media boycotts. I think Newstalk’s decision to ban journalists from The Irish Times from appearing on programmes is childish. But, I likewise think it petulant of people from The Irish Times like Fintan O’Toole and Una Mullally to declare that they were boycotting Newstalk over George Hook’s now…

Approached with moderation and admixed with common sense, “mindfulness” seems a harmless enough practice. Deriving from Buddhist thinking, the modern application may help people to “improve their mind by focusing on a positive object”. If you have to give a public speech, for example, and you worry you’ll have a panic attack, it can be…