Recently, while on the road giving a workshop, I took the opportunity to go the cathedral in a city for a Sunday Eucharist. I was taken aback by the homily. The priest used the Gospel text where Jesus says “I am the vine and you are the branches” to tell the congregation that what Jesus…
Next week will see the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th president of the United States of America. Few could have predicted, even six months ago, that Mr Trump would defeat the Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton. In fact, I spent election results night at a party hosted by the wonderful US Ambassador to…
“Far from emphasising submission, the message I picked up was about not conforming to received ideas. Do what you believe is right. Defend your values. Do not be afraid”, writes Mary Kenny The proposal to remove religion from the core curriculum of primary schools has been greeted by secularists as “a progressive step for Irish…
A backlash of stymied voices is developing, writes David Quinn One of the many things highlighted by the victory of Donald Trump in the US, and Brexit in the UK, is that a lot of people are sick and tired of political correctness. Those who are sick of it appear more likely to have voted…
So much of life, particularly today, constitutes an unconscious conspiracy against reading. Lack of time, the pressure of our jobs, and electronic technology, among other things, are more and more putting books out of reach and out of mind. There is never enough time to read. The upside of this is that when I do…
Fr Conor McDonough We must protect “the world (that) is more than just decay” writes Fr Conor McDonough as, “it is a place also of birth, of new beginnings” There is something immensely moving about the feast of Epiphany: bearded old men leave their dusty old books and journey by the light of a star…
“People who are addicted to negativity are generally angry about something”, writes Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny writes that the “appropriate way to mark the centenary of Fatima is to continue to pray for peace” The 2017 centenary of the apparitions at Fatima will surely be a significant focus for the devotional life of the Catholic Church. The story of the three Portuguese child visionaries is a poignant and compelling…
Each year is marked by three important religious festivals, Christmas, Easter, and St Patrick’s Day, which recalls the coming of Christianity to Ireland at the dawn of recorded Irish history. Each of them is an occasion for families to come together or to contact each other. Christmas especially is a time to remember those outside…
Daniel Berrigan, the American priest and poet who died in April this year, once wrote a wonderful little book entitled Ten Commandments for the Long Haul. It was intended as spiritual sustenance, sustaining food, for those who walk the lonely, long road of faith and often find themselves discouraged and running out of gas. Berrigan…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny
David Quinn
Dr Martin Mansergh
Courtney McGrail