Notebook   As I write from a preternaturally quiet Rome, Italy is about to enter the third week of her coronavirus lockdown and Ireland is ramping up her own quarantine measures to slow the spread of disease and avoid the harrowing experience of the North of Italy. That word quarantine has religious roots. It comes…

The View   The world is a very strange place today. Whereas a couple of weeks ago we were focused almost entirely on Brexit, wondering how everything would work out, today, it seems to me we are in an entirely different world. Outwardly it looks the same; but it is utterly changed. Now we are…

MIC is there to inform on issues like this, David Quinn   Mary Immaculate College in Limerick is one of the few Catholic teacher training colleges in the country. Given that more than 90%of primary schools in Ireland are still Catholic, and about 70% of secondary schools are also in this category, these colleges are…

Confronted with eye-watering technological developments Catholics have an important role to play, writes David Mullins   On May 3, 1983, some 247 Catholic bishops of the United States gathered in Chicago to issue their pastoral letter on war and peace and the use of nuclear technology. The immediate context was the ongoing nuclear arms race…

The consequences of population decline will be seismic unless we act quickly, writes Ray Kinsella   Once upon a time, when Ireland was less self-obsessed, issues like the financial burden of getting married and starting a family were the lifeblood of elections. No longer. Our skewed fiscal system discriminates against marriage and starting a family.…

As I left Mass last weekend, one of the parishioners came after me to say – “There will be no more Mass now for four weeks.” Actually, it could be longer. In Kent, where I am presently sequestered (and sequestered is the word), the authorities are talking about compelling all older people to remain in…

More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it. The Prophet Jeremiah wrote those words more than 2,500 years ago and anyone who struggles with the complexities of love and human relationships will soon enough know of what he speaks. Who indeed can understand the human heart, given some…

Notebook   During almost 34 years of priesthood I have had many memorable experiences, some of them very sad and heart-breaking, many very joyful and inspirational. Two weeks ago, I had one of the most memorable and certainly most uplifting ‘pastoral assignments’ ever! Over a year ago, I was approached by a lady in the…