You’ll have noticed that there’s a current fascination with the ancient world, exemplified by Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster movie of The Odyssey, and the likes of Prof. Mary Beard constantly extolling the glories of Imperial Rome. Dominance Books tracing the dominance of pre-Christian Greece and Rome, and their influence on our civilisation flow regularly off the…
The Irish Catholic invited the retiring Papal Nuncio to Ireland to reflect on his life and ministry I hope my attempt to answer some of the questions that might interest readers of The Irish Catholic about my personal experience in the priestly ministry will not disappoint them. My vocation to the priesthood was born at…
Then Amnesty International was founded in 1961 by Peter Benenson, a Catholic lawyer, it had a very specific and narrow purpose, and that was to identify and champion prisoners of conscience who were being kept behind bars for their political or other beliefs, almost always by authoritarian regimes. The danger was that these prisoners would…
The sickening spectacle that is George Gibney, the former swimming coach who was in the news again when he was convicted of sexually abusing five young girls – he was originally charged with 79 counts of indecent assault. The takeaways are what they have always been, stay vigilant and watchful over kids. Even Jesus warned…
The first thing that comes to many people’s minds when hearing the words ‘Generation Z’ is social media, and with good reason. We have never known a life without it, and unlike previous generations, we have spent our formative years scrolling through endless streams of news, opinion and global crises, carrying an unlimited amount of…
Earlier this month Amnesty UK – a human rights charity – published, and then quickly withdrew, a report called ‘A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK’. By the time this piece is published, the report may be re-issued, amended, or consigned to the dustbin. The report highlights the work of a wide-range of…
For months now, I have been receiving alarming, early-morning text messages from Major-Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halyč, leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The texts are typically sent after this heroic churchman has spent the entire night in a bomb shelter (as he has done many, many times over the past four and a…
Franciscans in the United States urged US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to help stop increased attacks against Christians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. According to a statement released July 9, the 12 provincial ministers representing the US Franciscan provinces said they received a response to their June 16 letter following the latest…
This year the Basilica in Knock celebrates its Golden Jubilee. Opened in 1976, it has welcomed countless thousands, if not millions, through its many and open doors. On the third Sunday of May 1976, as a thirteen-year-old boy, I was in Knock for the Annual Diocesan Pilgrimage. My parents and brothers were there also. Bishop…
As attitudes to immigration harden in Ireland, it is instructive to study what Pope Leo said about migration during his recent visit to Spain, particularly in Gran Canaria, and during his visit to Lampedusa in Italy. Catholic social teaching on migration is nuanced. Pope Leo is continuing the tradition of all the recent popes. Even…
Mary Kenny
David Quinn
George Weigel
Breda O'Brien