Editor’s Comment “And now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem,” proclaims the psalmist. And it is from Jerusalem that I write this reflection as part of The Irish Catholic Christian Solidarity Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I am leading the first post-coronavirus group of Irish pilgrims walking in the footsteps of Jesus.…
Female Government TDs cut a pathetic figure at the weekend lining up to express their sadness at not being invited to the latest come-all-ye. You see, the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) – a group funded by successive governments from taxpayers’ money to lobby said governments – is organising a campaign to ensure that…
There is much talk about the rising cost of living on both sides of the border. There is a broad consensus from politicians that something must be done. Invariably, the same politicians are divided on what should be done. What was it that Chesterton said about reformers: the reformer is always right about what’s wrong.…
Many people are now returning to the workplace as Covid-19 restrictions lift further – journalists like me have been in the office throughout – and many people are wondering what overall effect the pandemic will have on the world of work. Certainly, for some, a form of ‘blended work’ seems to be part of the…
Doug Beattie the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) has launched a scathing attack on Catholic schools in the North, accusing them of educational apartheid. Mr Beattie leads what is often characterised as the ‘moderate’ unionist party in the region, in contrast to the traditionally more hard-line Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). It shouldn’t be…
“Respect and reverence for the dead is the mark of a great people,” a priest of my childhood acquaintance – long since gone to God – often remarked. I never really understood what it meant as a child, and looking back death was very present and open in the community where I grew up in…
Editor’s Comment I came across a quotation recently something along the lines of: counting other people’s sins does not make you a saint. Though I haven’t been able to find out the origins of the phrase, it resonated with me and struck me as very wise indeed. It speaks to something persistent at the very…
Editor’s Comment “It’s not you, it’s me…” has to rank as one of the worst – not to mention corniest – lines to use in a relationship breakup. Mercifully, I’ve never had it said to me – but evidently it is intended to ease the dumpee’s feelings in the sure and certain knowledge that it…
‘Negaholism’ is a term that is used to describe the state or condition of being addicted to negative thinking. Counsellors and therapists more-and-more see it as a psychological addiction that has an impact on a person’s overall quality of life. Of course, it’s important to distinguish between negaholism and deep-seated clinical depression which is a…
Editor’s Comment When he was first made a bishop in Argentina, Pope Francis took as his motto the Venerable Bede’s account of Jesus recruiting the tax collector Matthew, miserando atque eligendo, which roughly translates “He saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him”. Friends say that Bishop Bergoglio liked the way Latin had…
Michael Kelly