Dear Editor, Ten dioceses have divested from fossil fuel [The Irish Catholic – July 14, 2022] but we need to see the rest up their game and do the same. In Europe we are facing a huge energy crisis due to our reliance on fossil fuels. It is easy to point the finger and say…
‘Family Love – a Vocation and a Path to Holiness’ was the theme of the Tenth World Meeting of Families that took place in Rome recently from June 22 to 26. Here I would like to reflect on one aspect of this theme, namely the family as both having a vocation but also being the…
One of the remarkable aspects of the recent tussle for power and leadership in the British Conservative party has been the number of candidates from an ethnic background. Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor and always the front-runner to replace Boris Johnson, is from an Indian heritage; while a rising star, Kemi Badenoch comes from a Nigerian…
The View Most parents of children with disabilities will tell you that they’ve been forced to fight hard to obtain the services their children need to develop their full potential. Despite repeated claims by the State that their objective is to ensure that no child gets left behind, advocates for people with disabilities point to…
Maybe teaching children something about pornography is inevitable and necessary, writes David Quinn Pornography will now be studied as part of a new Relationships and Sexuality Education programme to the taught at Junior Certificate level in the country’s secondary schools. That is the latest diktat from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) that…
A new publication by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life has drawn criticism over contributions from some theologians arguing for a distinction between moral norms, such as the Church’s condemnation of artificial birth control, and the pastoral application of those norms in concrete circumstances. Basically, the suggestion seemed to be that in some limited circumstances,…
Despite the popular appeal of Pope Francis, the vast majority of Irish Catholics ignored the synodal consultation process, writes Fr Andrew McMahon Appreciation is due to this newspaper for its recent Synodal Times, outlining the contents of the various diocesan synodal syntheses. From figures contained within the summaries, the participation/response rate per diocese appears to…
Pope Francis said all the speeches he has prepared for his trip to Canada “begin and end” with asking forgiveness. In an early July interview, he acknowledged the “cruel way” the Catholic Church collaborated with the Canadian government in “colonisation” by uprooting Indigenous children from their families, cultures and spiritualities and forcing them to attend…
Many of us are familiar with an often-quoted line from T.S. Eliot: “The last temptation is the greatest treason; to do the right deed for the wrong reason.” This, he suggests, is the temptation of the good person. What’s the temptation? In John’s Gospel, Jesus asks his listeners this question, “How can you believe who…
It was bound to happen. After over two years scrupulously taking every precaution to avoid infection, it caught me out: Covid visited me. And it took me over. It happened on a Saturday, the worst day for a priest in a one-priest parish. I woke with all the symptoms. An antigen test duly showed two…
Mary Kenny
David Quinn
John L. Allen Jr.
Fr Ronald Rolheiser