Editor’s Comment Advent is so often a missed season. In the rush to Christmas, we can forget the centrality of anticipation as well as patient and attentive waiting. In the marketplace, Christmas lights are erected from early November and there is talk of Christmas everywhere. It means that Advent gets lost, but it is an…
Dear Editor, The whitewashing of even the word Christmas from events organised by some Government bodies – despite clearly being Christmas festivals/markets – is deeply concerning. Well done for highlighting it on your front page [The Irish Catholic – December 1, 2022]. It is sad to see the values on which Ireland as we know…
by Fr John Harris Notebook On a night out with friends from college I was once asked if I was an optimist or a pessimist; did I see the glass half full or half empty. I had to think about to for a moment. I had to admit I generally see the glass as being…
Under a new protocol, religious symbols across State-run primary and secondary schools in the Republic (see page x), must be reflective of the “entire community”. If I were a Catholic parent with a child at such a school, I’m sure I’d have no objection to a school mirroring the faith diversity of the local community.…
The View Last Saturday night I went with the Families of the Disappeared to Oristown, Co. Meath for a Mass commemorating all those who had been abducted and murdered by the IRA and who are known as ‘the Disappeared’. This is where the bodies of three of those who were abducted and murdered by the…
Politics should not be allowed to invade every sphere, writes David Quinn Perhaps we should be thankful that Ireland did not qualify for the World Cup after all, because if we had, our presence there would have surely unleashed an orgy of hypocritical moralising, virtue-signalling and hand-wringing by all the Irish ‘great and the good’…
Many who entered religious life in my time were emotionally immature, writes Deacon Frank Browne The abuse of children by any adult is a scandal, and the recent revelation regarding the extent of abuse inflicted upon students attending Blackrock College and other Spiritan run schools up to the 1980s, is one of the most serious…
Letter from Rome Just when you think that the Vatican’s “trial of the century” against a cardinal and nine other defendants for various alleged financial crimes can’t get any more surreal, two developments pop out of the woodwork to prove you wrong. A hearing November 24 produced both a previously unknown, and unauthorised, recording of…
by AC Wimmer The Vatican November 24 published the full wording of its latest warnings over another schism coming out of Germany, raising fundamental concerns and objections against the Synodal Way. Two leading cardinals delivered their theologically argued reservations in direct meetings with the German bishops last Friday, warning the process “hurts the communion of…
Dear Editor, I refer to the nasty comments made by Tim Hazelwood and his association of rebel priests through the medium of the press, where they are calling on the Bishop of Kerry to ban Fr Seán Sheehy from celebrating Mass and other sacraments for preaching what is essentially Catholic teaching. Fr Hazelwood claimed Fr…
Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny
Nuala O’Loan
David Quinn
John L. Allen Jr.