There were four speakers at the presentation of the Pope’s post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation in Rome last Friday, but all eyes and ears were on Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. Before turning to his prepared text he announced: “This text is beautiful, really beautiful in my opinion.” He went on to praise the accessibility and immediacy of the…

“If the Church cannot give life to families, she herself has no future” Fr Bernard Healy Much of the commentary about Amoris Laetitia will focus on the care of those in ‘irregular unions’. It seems a shame that the ‘hot button issues’ will take attention away from a vision that could be genuinely revolutionary in…

The joy of love experienced by families is also the joy of the Church! writes Pope Francis It is not by chance that Amoris Laetitia (AL), “The Joy of Love”, the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation “on Love in the Family”, was signed on March 19, the Solemnity of St Joseph. It brings together the results of…

How successful the dream of the Rising has been realised can only be measured in terms of what kind of society we have now, writes Archbishop Diarmuid Martin Earlier this year RTÉ transmitted a television series about 1916 called Rebellion. It was a fictional re-enactment of the dramatic events of Easter Week 1916. It included…

We need to think about and pray for our brothers and sisters suffering and dying for what we take so casually for granted, writes Fr Martin Delaney Recently I returned to my alma mater, the Irish College in Rome. Some years ago the college chapel was extensively renovated by the Slovenian Jesuit artist, Mark Rupnik.…

In the movie based upon Jane Austen’s classic novel Sense and Sensibility, there’s a very poignant scene where one of her young heroines, suffering from acute pneumonia, is lying in bed hovering between life and death. A young man, very much in love with her, is pacing back and forth, highly agitated, frustrated by his…

The Church teaches that Christ is made visible through the ordained ministry, writes Cathal Barry The redemptive sacrifice of Christ is unique, according to the Church, is accomplished once for all; yet it is made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church. “The same is true of the one priesthood of Christ,” the Catechism…

There is grave concern about the future of the diocese and the damage to priestly morale caused by the ongoing controversy, writes Michael Kelly The priests of the Diocese of Ossory are currently involved in a ‘listening process’. Facilitated by three priests of the diocese, the process is designed for Bishop Séamus Freeman to get…

President Higgins’ view of post-independence Ireland is a caricature, writes David Quinn How should we remember 1916? What does justice to all the different strands of the Easter Rising? President Michael D. Higgins has spoken of the need for “ethical remembering”, by which he means a form of remembering that takes account of all the…