Editor’s Comment At lunchtime on Tuesday a lengthy 1,019-word statement from the Department for Health landed in my email inbox. It hailed May 17 as a “significant day for women’s health” in Ireland and announced that the Government that morning approved “the legal framework that will underpin the ownership and governance arrangements for the new…
At a superficial level, the main takeaways from the assembly elections are: that a nationalist is now in-line to be the First Minister in a polity created to ensure a permanent unionist government; the SDLP received a terrible drubbing and that party is now on life support; the main winner is the ‘centre ground’ as…
If a leaked document from the US Supreme Court this week can be taken at face value, the landmark 1973 ruling that made abortion legal in all 50 states will soon be overturned. A draft document obtained by the news website Politico suggests the top US court is in favour of overturning Roe v Wade.…
The very mixed emotions experienced by priests in pastoral ministry as they deal with the ups and downs of their parishioners often leads to a wry, even black humour. Behind it often lies a deeper message. I remember a priest saying to me once of another cleric: “oh, he doesn’t suffer from depression – but…
For the believer, Holy Week and Easter are the culmination of the Faith when we mark the saving death and lifegiving resurrection of the Saviour. Even if some people sometimes relegate Easter to a mere festival of over-indulgence in chocolate eggs, the glory of this festival transformed our world. The Carpenter of Nazareth revealed in…
In our calendar, Holy Week is one which turns from triumph on Palm Sunday to breaking bread together on Holy Thursday, betrayal in Gethsemane, death and humiliation on a cross on Good Friday, the silence of Holy Saturday and ultimately the victory over the grave of Easter Sunday. On the first Holy Thursday at the…
As a journalist, one of the great barriers to working as effectively as one would have liked during Covid-19 was the lack of ‘in person’ opportunities to meet. Many have hailed the revolution in communications brought about by zoom and other online platforms. Others have embraced the idea of working from home with an enthusiasm…
Editor’s Comment Pope St John XXIII was reportedly once asked by an impressed visitor to the Apostolic Palace how many people actually work at the Vatican. The Pontiff is reported to have quipped back: “Oh, about half of them”. The story is probably apocryphal, and I have since heard it said about many large organisations.…
When I made my Confirmation in 1990, our teacher excelled at helping us to memorise the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Each of us boys could rhyme them off one by one. Probably not to the same extent that previous generations could recite the catechism from heart, but certainly in a way that is probably…
Editor’s Comment As I write, a piece of legislation is making its way through the northern assembly. If passed, the legislation will seriously disadvantage Catholic schools by prioritising scarce resources towards what are commonly called ‘integrated’ schools. Catholic schools along with ‘controlled’ schools (in effect, Protestant schools) will be in second-place when it comes to…
Michael Kelly
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