Many people are now returning to the workplace as Covid-19 restrictions lift further – journalists like me have been in the office throughout – and many people are wondering what overall effect the pandemic will have on the world of work. Certainly, for some, a form of ‘blended work’ seems to be part of the…
Notebook I wonder how many priests in Ireland contracted Covid-19 during the pandemic? I wonder if this statistic has been recorded anywhere? We were often told that not all heroes wore capes; I wonder if some of them had collars? In each diocese, priests got plenty of advice and many directives about how to keep…
Shock and horror were expressed in high places. Indignant denials were issued. The establishment came forth to state that such a thing, were it to happen, would be outrageous. Such was the general reaction at Westminster to the claim by a former minister, Ms Nusrat Ghani, that she had been reprimanded for her “Muslimness”. Allegation…
Shannon Campbell The View Pope Francis captured headlines recently when, in his annual address to the diplomatic corps, he tackled head-on the growing phenomenon of ‘cancel culture.’ He was uncompromising in condemning it as a form of “ideological colonisation” which leads to “one track thinking”, ill-suited to addressing the challenges of our times. Cancel culture…
Commercial surrogacy is tantamount to baby-buying, writes David Quinn The Government has just announced the establishment of a special Oireachtas committee to examine the issue of international surrogacy. In practice, this means commercial surrogacy, that is, paying a woman to become pregnant with your baby. Originally, Ireland was planning to allow so-called ‘altruistic surrogacy’ only,…
Over the centuries, the Catholic Church often has led the pack in two distinct specialties: Breaking your heart, and then stitching it back together again with a fresh infusion of hope. This past week brought classic examples of both. Out of Munich, we got a report from a law firm commissioned by the archdiocese documenting…
As the threat of a Russian military incursion in Ukraine continues to loom, European bishops have urged peace, asking that both international law and the sovereignty of each nation involved in the conflict be respected while tensions escalate. In the statement, signed by Archbishop Gintaras Linas Grušas of Vilnius, Lithuania, President of the Council of…
Kabir, a 15th-century Hindu mystic, writes: “What you call ‘salvation’ belongs to the time before death. If you don’t break your ropes while you’re alive, do you think ghosts will do it after? …. What is found now is found then. If you find nothing now, you will simply end up with an apartment in…
Doug Beattie the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) has launched a scathing attack on Catholic schools in the North, accusing them of educational apartheid. Mr Beattie leads what is often characterised as the ‘moderate’ unionist party in the region, in contrast to the traditionally more hard-line Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). It shouldn’t be…
Dear Editor, I would agree with Fr Padraig Ó Cochláin’s sentiments [The Irish Catholic – January 13, 2020] as regards our lovely Irish language, it is the richest of all languages in its bounty of old truisms, seanfhocail agus beannachtaí. It is now an official language of the EU but my regret is that it…
Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny
David Quinn
John L. Allen Jr.
Fr Ronald Rolheiser