“It would be easy, but wrong, always to assume that all that matters is the faith that people die in,” writes Martin Mansergh The commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising has been uplifting, and has attracted wide public interest, support and enthusiasm. Fortuitously, its timing has filled a gap in public life created by the…

Game of Thrones’ nihilism does not work because we need stories to have a just ending or moral purpose, writes David Quinn President Barack Obama is a fan. He got to watch the first episode of the new season ahead of almost anyone else. That, I suppose, is one of the perks of being the…

It is outrageous to draw a moral equivalence between terrorists and Israel acting to protect its citizens, writes Ze’ev Boker Ze’ev Boker It was with interest but also with disappointment that I read the opinion piece by Baroness Nuala O’Loan on Israel and the Palestinians in The Irish Catholic (Peace remains fragile in the Holy…

The Church teaches that priests share in the mission that Christ entrusted to the apostles, writes Cathal Barry The Second Vatican Council teaches that the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred by episcopal consecration, that fullness namely which, both in the liturgical tradition of the Church and the language of the Fathers…

What we cease to celebrate we will soon cease to cherish. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the religious congregation to which I belong, The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. We have a proud history, 200 years now, of ministering to the poor around the world. This merits celebrating. As a…

“Everything about that celebration was… a celebration of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, inclusion”, writes Fr Martin Delaney In 2013, when the movie Philomena was released, worldwide attention was focused briefly on Seán Ross Abbey near Roscrea, Co. Tipperary. Seán Ross was the mother and baby home where Philomena Lee had given…

We have a responsibility to ease the burden on countries that are immediate neighbours to war-torn regions, writes David Quinn Europe is currently embroiled in the greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War. It has been precipitated by the collapse of authority in Libya, and in large parts of Iraq and, of course, by…

Calling women as deacons is at least worth talking about Phyllis Zagano The early Church had a problem. As it grew, the apostles could not attend to all its ministries. As Pope Francis said, when speaking to assembled bishops in Philadelphia, last September, the apostles essentially ‘invented’ the diaconate. The beginnings of the diaconate related…

The Church teaches that ecclesiastical ministry is exercised in different degrees, writes Cathal Barry The ministerial priesthood has the task not only of representing Christ before the assembly of the faithful, but also of acting in the name of the whole Church when presenting to God the prayer of the Church, and above all when…

In a recent article in America magazine, Grant Kaplan, commenting on the challenge of the Resurrection, makes this comment: “Unlike previous communities in which the bond among members forges itself through those it excludes and scapegoats, the gratuity of the Resurrection allows for a community shaped by forgiven-forgivers.” What he is saying, among other things,…