During his Sunday Angelus recently with pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square, Pope Leo gave us a call to love when he said, “Let us where we are, never miss an opportunity to love. This is the vigilance that Jesus asks of us, to get used to being attentive, available and sensitive to one another,…

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). On Sunday last, the Church invited us to rejoice as two young men, St Carlo Acutis and St Pier Giorgio Frassati were declared saints. Born in different centuries, they lived very different lives, Carlo with computers and technology, Pier Giorgio with mountains and…

Last year, Ireland held two referendums which our political leaders, aided and abetted by most of our media, have been very keen to forget about. One was on so-called ‘durable relationships’. No-one could quite say what these were, but ‘durable relationships’ were to be given marriage-like status. Voters worried they were being asked to buy…

Conversation overheard: “Are you going to see the new Downton Abbey film, when it opens this week?” “Oh yes! We’re booked for Sunday.” “Complete tosh!” “I’m sure it will be absolute nonsense! But the gorgeous costumes and posh interiors are just the kind of fluffy entertainment that helps us escape the dreadful realities of the…

Far Right and Far Left voices clashed on Dublin’s O’Connell Street in April 2025. Shouts of “Refugees are welcome” met with “Ireland is for the Irish.” Yet Ireland’s future will not be decided by street protests or slogans. It will be shaped by something deeper: culture. Unless we take culture seriously, Ireland risks tearing its…

The days of comfortable Catholicism are past, The days of socially acceptable Christianity are over.  The days of comfortable Catholicism are past.  It is no longer easy to be a faithful Christian, a good Catholic, an authentic witness to the truths of the Gospel.  A price is demanded.  There are costs of discipleship – heavy…

Mass had just started when the children were murdered. It is not a sentence one should ever have to read or write. But even where songs have been sung, and the word of God recited in a psalm, bullets can fly from the darkness of those who seek to destroy. And so, evil disrupted worship…

What exactly is this ‘woke’ business?” asked an old friend, puzzled by the word’s ubiquitous use and the lack of exact definition. So, I thought I’d compile a simplified guide to an idea and a movement which wields power and influence in directing our values today. ‘Woke’ means replacing words like ‘mother’ and ‘father,’ with…

The bishops have just released a pastoral letter urging people, especially those who stopped going during the Covid pandemic, to start coming to Mass again. Introducing the pastoral on Sunday, Bishop Denis Nulty of Kildare & Leighlin diocese, said: “Today’s Pastoral was born out of the experience of the Covid Pandemic” during which “Sunday worship…

Primary schools have been in the news for months due to historic levels of underfunding, which the cost-of-living crisis has exacerbated. In general, primary schools in Ireland, 89% of which are Catholic, inspire high levels of trust and affection in local communities. There are some exceptions, most notably where schools are over-subscribed and parents find…