It’s ironic how the course of events sometimes unfolds, and how change often brings unintended consequences. When the contraceptive Pill was introduced in the 1960s, it prompted a huge debate about the ethics – and side-effects – involved. As everyone knows, this culminated in the 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, in which Pope Paul VI, against…

On November 4 Minister for Education and Youth, Helen McEntee, announced a landmark initiative in the primary education system in Ireland with the launch of an online survey of parents, guardians and primary school communities. The survey is giving voice to parents and guardians of children at pre-school level and currently in primary schools in…

Shortly after the recent presidential election, Tánaiste Simon Harris said something a bit surprising. He told reporters: “Immigration is too high”. His statement was not surprising because he said immigration is high, it is and that’s a fact.  What was surprising was that he said it at all. Immediately and predictably he was compared with…

When the then Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn launched an independent forum on patronage and pluralism in primary schools in 2011, I don’t believe that he or any of those present imagined that 14 years later there would have been little or no change in the status quo. Although there has been widespread agreement between…

On October 28, 2025, the Church marked the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s Gravissimum educationis — the declaration that first placed education at the heart of the Church’s mission. In honour of that milestone, Pope Leo XIV has given us a new compass: “Drawing New Maps of Hope.” This text is not simply…

It was hardly unexpected that the Grand Masters of the Orange Order of Ireland, England and Scotland would protest to King Charles about his recent visit to Pope Leo – in their eyes committing the grave transgression of praying with the Pontiff. The Orangemen reprimanded the King for his ecumenical gesture, and rather impertinently directed…

The Department of Education and Youth has just launched a survey to get the views of parents and guardians about the type of primary schools they want for the future. The survey, which is all online, is for parents and guardians of children currently in primary school or who will enter primary school in the…

And so the long-running saga that is called ‘Donald Trump’ continues, but this time with three big defeats in elections that took place in America last week. These were for the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey and the mayoralty of New York City. In Virginia, a Republican governor was defeated, while in New Jersey…

A priest friend has a rather colourful image in his kitchen, and when I first saw it, I was taken aback. I liked the picture well enough but I wondered why he had a picture of Bob Marley on his wall. He didn’t seem like the type. “That’s an interesting picture,” I said. “Yes, it’s…

The United Nations has disgraced themselves again. No serious organisation tells schools that boys should share facilities such as showers and residential spaces with girls. Yet that is exactly what the UN is suggesting. They’ve painted themselves into a corner after allowing trans activists to convince them that gender identity should take precedence over biological…