Forgiveness is an endangered virtue in our society, which seems addicted to the cancellation of people judged to hold unacceptable views. Instead, something like Orwell’s ‘Two Minutes Hate’ is triggered, where people foam at the mouth in anger in programmed ways. However, something unusual happened on Twitter recently, (I refuse to call it X, which…
We can’t forget that in our lifetime, the Government actually criminalised going to Mass, writes David Quinn Dr Tony Holohan became probably the most famous face in Ireland during the Covid-19 pandemic. As the country’s Chief Medical Officer, it was he the Government turned to in order to steer us through the crisis. He chaired…
Christian democracy means putting the human person at the centre of our political action writes Manfred Weber MEP The world has been in crisis management mode for more than a decade: we experienced a global financial crisis and a pandemic. Now we are witnessing what it means having a bloody and ruthless war right on…
As first reported by Loup Besmond of La Croix, Pope Francis apparently is considering imposing pontifical secrecy on the upcoming Synod of Bishops on synodality, not simply on opinions and votes, as was past practice, but on all issues addressed during synod discussions. The stated aim would be to protect the frankness and honesty of…
Fredrick Nzwili Two weeks after the military seized power in Gabon, a Catholic priest there said ordinary people feel more secure and hopeful, even as some analysts warn of a “contagious coup pandemic” in the former French colonies in West and Central Africa. On September 4, General Brice Oligui Nguema was sworn in as the…
Donal McMahon It’s strange but in all my years of reading at Mass I had never read the psalm for Trinity Sunday (Year A) until this year, on June 4. In case the choir wasn’t there to sing it, I studied it at home. I saw immediately how different it was from the usual…
When we speak of the vocations crisis, we shouldn’t speak of it in isolation from the wider crisis of faith that we are currently experiencing in Ireland and large parts of the western world. Healthy and committed vocations only come from healthy and committed communities which can only be formed by healthy and committed families.…
Dear Editor, Your recent front page article [The Irish Catholic – September 7, 2023] highlighting Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s warning to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the harassment faced by the Christian minority in Jerusalem, has stirred my concern. As Christians, we are called to embrace love, compassion, and solidarity with our fellow believers, regardless…
I wrote, last week, about the reason why there’s a ‘culture gap’ between younger people, and the more mature generations – especially on issues like ‘gender wars’. Younger people often have a literal attitude to equality: everyone must be equal, and natural, or biological, differences, don’t come into the equation. There is also an interesting…
The Catholic culture of our childhood memories is unlikely to return, whether we would wish it to or not writes Fr Eamonn Conway When I was growing up in Tuam, Co. Galway in the 1960s, the town was a ‘mini-Vatican’. The diocesan boarding school, St Jarlath’s College, had over a dozen priests on staff. Both…
Breda O'Brien
David Quinn
John L. Allen Jr.
Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny