Fr Shay Cullen Most people who consider themselves Christians will have their own imagined image of Jesus of Nazareth. Few really know who he was, what he did and said, or was reported as having said. Most know him as the child of poor parents born in a manger in Bethlehem, in what’s now the…

On December 29, the Church begins a Jubilee Year, with the theme ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. Maybe this is not a bad place for us to spend a bit of time, this week, as we head towards the celebration of Christmas. There is a priest in Mayo that I have admired for many years – his…

Fundamental to our faith is our belief in the sanctity of human life, from conception to natural end, because all life comes from God. This eternal truth informs all we do. In the secular world there is no belief in God, and, for many, little belief in the sanctity of human life. Those who have…

It’s almost 40 years since Jeffrey Dudgeon successfully changed the law in Northern Ireland. And it took courage as he was living in real fear, under an unjust law:  his house had been raided, and he had been arrested and interrogated by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. His crime? Dudgeon was a gay man and homosexual…

You will be aware of the phrase “First World Problem”, usually employed sarcastically. It’s an apt description of those spoilt folk in the rich world whinging about trivialities while so much of the globe experiences real suffering. So, this may seem something of a “First World Problem”, but I’ll mention it just the same as…

Advent is a time of preparation, when we slow down a little, anticipate what is ahead and prepare for what is to come. As I read about the funeral of Mary Regan in Co. Carlow a few days ago, I was reminded of the similarities between Advent and the funeral mass as celebrated in the…

On Friday, November 29, a majority of Westminster MPs voted in favour of a bill titled “Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill”, proposed by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater. If passed into law, it will allow terminally ill people in England and Wales with six months or less to live to be supplied with lethal…

Sometimes, political spouses change history. Annabel Malinauskas, wife of the premier of the small state of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas, finished reading Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. She then turned to her husband and said, ‘You had better effing do something about…

How did you feel about the election result? How happy did it make you feel? I think a lot of people went into the election with a slight feeling of resignation. There wasn’t much enthusiasm for the Government but not enough anger either to kick them out, and for many there was no viable, realistic…