I grew up in a household where my mother, a teacher and my father, a civil servant, read The Irish Times cover to cover every single day except Sunday. When I got engaged, it was announced on the pages. My parents are now in their early seventies and part of the dwindling demographic still imbibing…
On most weekday mornings, in cities, towns and rural parishes alike, a familiar scene unfolds at the school gate. Parents gather in small groups, exchanging brief greetings before the day pulls them in different directions. Children weave between conversations, balancing schoolbags and last-minute reminders. In those few unremarkable minutes, people who might otherwise rarely cross…
In twelve months’ time, the once quiet village of Adare on the outskirts of Limerick City will become the centre of the golfing universe. For one week, the world’s eyes will be fixed on Adare Manor as it hosts the 46th Ryder Cup and the tournament’s centenary edition, bringing tens of thousands of visitors and…
These past weeks, I have been struck by the photos of the five teenage boys who died while taking part in a TikTok dare to drive the wrong way up a motorway. While their actions were appalling and wrong, I feel sorry for their families, and, as an uncle of a teenager, for the boys…
Catholic schools need an AI conscience check, not just a usage policy Dear Editor, The Irish Catholic has repeatedly framed AI as a question about the human person, not just a new classroom tool. Its coverage of Magnifica Humanitas has stressed when educators should say no to AI, while another essay asked who remains responsible…
The plan was simple: invite some other men to discuss a book chosen beforehand. The invitation turned into hundreds of monthly meetings over more than a decade. In hindsight, it is a minor miracle it worked. G.K. Chesterton wrote in a 1904 essay on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: “The sincere love of books has…
I listened recently to an excellent interview with Dr Hannah Vaughan-Spruce who presented a hopeful vision for the future of the Church, where parishes become centres of discipleship, evangelisation and authentic community. Hannah is Executive Director of Divine Renovation UK, a ministry that inspires, connects and equips parishes to become missionary (see www.divinerenovation.org). She also…
In times gone by, most politicians were savvy enough not to attack motherhood. There was even a jokey phrase to allude to the sweetest things in life: “motherhood and apple pie”. Everything else had a dubious side, but mom and apple pie occupied a specially valued zone. Politicians of old grasped the point that everyone…
Our contributor Fr Kieran O’Mahony OSA – readers will know him through his Hearers of the Word section in this paper – was buried last Friday at seventy-five, after an illness, and the tributes that followed called him what he was: a gifted teacher of Scripture, an Augustinian who spent decades making biblical texts breathe…
The sad story of Jason Arday has at this point been recast over and over to denounce either racism or DEI. The story has, however, a wider, less contentious angle. It centres on the question of how outlier cultures, whether based on religion or race, can thrive within a society that finds at least some…
Mary Kenny