Senior representatives from RTÉ appeared before the Oireachtas Committee on Communications last week, including the head of news and current affairs, Deirdre McCarthy, and Kevin Bakhurst, the Director General. Much of the time recently, RTÉ has found itself embroiled in controversies over expenses, or the amount of money paid to presenters, or presenters doing ‘nixers’,…
There’s glitter on the seats,” the woman in front of me observed, with a friendly smile. She was shuffling into the pew in front of me. “The first communion children!” We both smiled. The boys and girls of the parish had been at Mass for the sacrament the day before. It was not my parish.…
Each school’s characteristic spirit should be clearly articulated and the rights of parents as primary educators reinforced, Miriam Clune writes. Being a mother in today’s world is challenging, particularly when it comes to navigating the ever-evolving landscape of education. Parents are increasingly finding themselves on the periphery of discussions surrounding centralised school policies and curricula, with NGOs stepping…
I am as apprehensive of Artificial Intelligence as the next person, and the notion of robots governing so much of our lives is worrying. How many jobs will be lost when AI does everything from accountancy to keyhole surgery? Will authors and writers lose control of their own texts once AI can compose words as…
For some reason, Catholics can get a little nervous when it comes to charismatic prayer. Years ago, I brought my good Catholic mother to a Life in the Spirit Seminar. We both thought it was just a series of lectures on the Holy Spirit. But when scores of people in the hall jumped up to…
As the centenary of Matt Talbot’s death approaches, the Knights of St Columbanus have launched a renewed effort to promote the Venerable not only as a candidate for sainthood but as a model saint for the modern day. Their initiative — tied to commemorations taking place on June 6–8 — looks ahead, seeking to present…
Juniour Certificate students are to be taught all about the institutions run by the country’s religious orders including the mother and baby homes, the industrial schools and the Magdalen laundries. Thus, they will be acquainted with what is often called a ‘dark chapter’ from our past. And yes, there are dark chapters in our past…
One of Pope Francis’s critiques of modern society was that too many people prefer to have animal pets rather than children. In 2014, he described this trend as “selfish”, and returned to the theme in 2022, when he called it “a denial of fatherhood and motherhood” that “takes away our humanity”. Well, the pattern has…
Well before the same-sex marriage referendum in Ireland– currently celebrating its tenth anniversary – I think I sensed that attitudes were changing. Back in the 1990s, after Mary Robinson held a soirée in Áras an Uachtaráin for gay citizens, I had a conversation with an entirely conventional Irish Catholic grandmother, who would then have been…
In the four short weeks since Pope Francis died, we have seen the gathering of the Cardinals from all the corners of the earth, the papal election, the inauguration on Sunday of Cardinal Robert Prevost as the new Pope, Leo XIV, and his first public Mass as Pope. It is quite extraordinary that the Catholic…
David Quinn
Martina Purdy
Mary Kenny
Renata Milán Morales
Nuala O’Loan