In the classic film The Princess Bride, the Inigo Montoya character late in the movie is faced with the challenge of recounting the storyline up to that point. He says, “Let me ‘splain…No, there is too much. Let me sum up.” I’ve got a similar sensation in the wake of a March 22-25 summit of…

Blaise Pascal once wrote: “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.” How true; this has been going on since the beginning of time and is showing few signs of disappearing any time soon. We still do violence and evil and justify them in God’s name.…

One of the country’s large general hospitals recently made a small but very significant change. It renamed all of its wards. Previously the wards had saints’ names: ‘St Michael’s Ward’, ‘St Brigid’s Ward’, etc. Such names were commonplace in many hospitals around Ireland and I suppose the practice of naming wards – and indeed whole…

“A new type of Church – more lay-led – will have to emerge”, writes Michael Kelly Archbishop Eamon Martin recently said that priests and bishops need to get used to “letting go” of the central role in parish communities if faith is to be re-energised. In many ways, it’s not an issue of choice: declining…

“I hear certain sarky remarks about this being “a new definition of having it all”, writes Mary Kenny There was a young woman of my acquaintance who, a couple of years ago, disappeared from view, and then returned as a male, having had a sex change operation. She was always a boyish kind of girl,…

Congratulations to Katie Ascough on becoming president of UCD’s student union. It is a great victory, not least because she made no secret of her pro-life views or that she is a person of faith. It gives great hope to other students and young people in general, that Ireland does not always have to be…

“The most fitting tribute to Martin’s legacy would be to again find that courage to cut a deal”, writes Michael Kelly The former deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness was a complex man who embarked on a complex journey. From a childhood where he witnessed first-hand the discrimination suffered by Catholics in the North to a…

Martin McGuinness turned away from the path of violence towards the path of peace and reconciliation”, writes Mary Kenny There is little doubt that opinions about Martin McGuinness remained divided at the time of his death. Norman Tebbit, the Conservative peer, could neither forget nor forgive the Brighton bomb of 1984, which crippled his wife…

Immigration policies must recognise the needs of both immigrants and their host countries, writes David Quinn Last Sunday, hundreds of churches rang out their bells in solidarity with refugees and migrants and in protest against racism and xenophobia. The initiative was the brainchild of Church of Ireland Dean of Waterford Reverend Maria Jansson. It was…

Fr Joe McVeigh He did more than most to take the gun out of Irish politics, writes Fr Joe McVeigh Martin McGuinness will be forever remembered for his key role in building the peace after almost 30 years of violent conflict, when many had almost despaired of ever finding a peaceful way forward. He will…