Mark Patrick Hederman explores the life and legacy of the Jesuit scientist/theologian In a nutshell I would describe him as ‘a mystic in a mouse trap.’ I would rank him with Gerard Manley Hopkins [also a Jesuit] as a poet who has left us with several beautiful thought-provoking images: treatises on the Eucharist, on the…
Last Sunday the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus marked the end of the Christmas period. Jesus moved from his private life – the carpenter son of Mary and Joseph – into his brief public life: the three short years of his ministry. We are told, “while Jesus after his own baptism was at prayer,…
Pope Francis, on January 9 speaking to the members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, raised the issue of fake news. “We see increasingly polarised societies, marked by a general sense of fear and distrust of others and of the future, which is aggravated by the continuous creation and spread of fake news.…
Like many readers of this paper I grew up in an era where the depiction of nuns on screen was generally positive. I’m talking about films like Heaven Knows, Mr Allison (1957), The Bells of Saint Marys (1945), Black Narcissus (1947) and so on. I once wrote in these pages of an interview I conducted…
Her name was Luca, but her family called her Pearl, and she was one of eight children born into the Henry family in Charlestown, Co. Mayo. Her parents came from a line of teachers whose legacy could be traced to 1844 and the “hedge schools” where the poorest in society got an informal education. In…
I signed up for this… in the name of the local GAA club as part of a national fundraising event where a club might gain some prize money if its members and friends can walk 4000km during a five-week window of opportunity. In honesty and more personally, I signed up because I know I need…
I suppose one of the most reviled stereotypes by liberal progressives is the “trad wife”. This is the figure of the woman who stays at home to care for her family, preside over the kitchen and mealtime, and manage the household. There used to be, in Ireland long ago, popular entertainments which actually rewarded this…
In modern culture, it is still fashionable for reporters to be dispatched to hospitals to find the first-born of 2025. Children, whether the media admits it or not, remain the world’s most valuable resource. “The best hope for the future,” was how former Irish American President, John F. Kennedy, put it. And so, north of…
In March 2021, the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference announced a Synodal Pathway for the Catholic Church in Ireland. This pathway has overlapped with the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission,” which, after three years of deliberations, concluded in Rome last October. According…
Embracing the present moment with realism, and planning for a future full of hope, go hand in hand. Archbishop Dermot Farrell, reflecting on the motto chosen by Pope Francis for the Jubilee Year 2025, ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, has posed a critical question: ‘Hope comes to those who journey in hope… Could we risk a journey…
Nuala O’Loan
Aubrey Malone
Martina Purdy
Mary Kenny