On Friday, American Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston issued a statement saying he has asked the heads of all offices in the Roman Curia to take down the artwork of a famed priest and artist accused of abusing dozens of adult women. The statement came from the Pontifical Commission for Protecting Minors (PCPM), for which…
Every so often I am made more acutely aware of how I live in a very changing Ireland. Our country is increasingly viewed across the world as a modern progressive republic which has shaken off the destructive influence and interference of institutional religion, particularly the Catholic Church. Sometimes this change happens in very public ways…
Momentum is building for the All Ireland Rally for Life which is taking place in Dublin on July 6. I’m sure it will be a very successful occasion, and a happy occasion too. What’s been remarkable about this annual event is the positive buzz around the gathering, the marches and speeches. It’s obviously all about…
Our President, Michael D. Higgins, let himself and the rest of us badly down with his recent comments about protests at public libraries. Sensible people are concerned about the highly inappropriate and sexualised, not to say obscene, material being pushed at children in the 12-17 year old children’s sections these days. Not the President, though. He referred…
The British General Election will take place on July 4. Labour is expected not only to win but may achieve the biggest majority ever seen in the House of Commons. The Conservatives, in power without interruption since 2011, are in for an almighty hammering. Since the last General Election in 2019, when the Tories won…
The first report of the Synod on Synodality was published last month and makes for very interesting reading. It was the first of two sessions. Of the 364 voting delegates who attended, 50 were women and they, with the lay men and others who attended, were able to vote on this report and on the…
A baby was screaming rather loudly at Mass the other day – so loudly from the church porch that the priest’s final blessing was being drowned out. So, he paused, smiled widely, and declared: “When I hear a child crying in church, I know the Church has a future. And it always does.” But sadly,…
What is Rishi Sunak thinking? With the Conservative Party well and truly tanking in the polls, hanging on to only its most loyal voting base and an election a mere fortnight away, he chooses to announce that he is not opposed to assisted suicide. The Conservative Party, after 14 years in power, overseeing and implementing…
Dean Keating These recent elections were not the parting of the fog that many had hoped for or the endorsement of Government that the Taoiseach has claimed. At best, we can see a stagnation for all three major parties and a diversification of the Irish political spectrum, caused by a rejection of the Government’s more…
Catholic Church representatives have welcomed a ruling by Europe’s top human rights court that countries have no obligation to allow physician-assisted suicide. However, they also voiced concern at suggestions that it could be recognised as a human right in the future. “This judgment largely concerns procedural questions – but it’s a very good result,” said…
Mary Kenny
Senator Ronan Mullen
David Quinn
Nuala O’Loan
Martina Purdy