Shannon Campbell The View On Ash Wednesday past, our chaplain, Fr Dominic McGrattan, invited students to consider what it is that makes a cross a crucifix? Crosses, we know, come in all shapes and sizes. Some are jewelled, others are intricately carved. I wear one my grandmother gave me when I was a child. What…
Category: Opinion
German synodal process a danger to Church unity
The Church in Germany’s synodal pathway is the biggest threat to Church unity since the Reformation, writes David Quinn The Catholic Church in Germany has embarked on what it calls a ‘synodal pathway’ to re-examine teachings and practices of the Church in light of the abuse scandals. But the path it appears to wish to…
Show me a selfish person who is truly happy
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once said something to the effect that we reach moral maturity on the day we realise that, ultimately, we have to choose: genuflect before something higher than ourselves or begin to self-destruct! Simone Weil had a similar idea. She consistently affirmed that our deepest longing was to find someone or something…
Why do I remain a priest?
I’m writing these reflections in Holy Week and later this evening I will join my colleagues to celebrate the Chrism Mass during which we will renew the promises made at ordination. Much has changed since that July evening in 1986 when I first made those promise and so this annual renewal causes me to reflect…
A synodal suggestion
Dear Editor, Thank you for your continued focus on the synodal pathway on which the Church in Ireland is not embarked. It is long overdue, but must not be allowed to become a ‘talking shop’ that goes nowhere dominated by the sort of people we all remember at meetings during our professional career. Thankfully I…
Easter season is about looking forward with hope
For the believer, Holy Week and Easter are the culmination of the Faith when we mark the saving death and lifegiving resurrection of the Saviour. Even if some people sometimes relegate Easter to a mere festival of over-indulgence in chocolate eggs, the glory of this festival transformed our world. The Carpenter of Nazareth revealed in…
French Catholics and President Macron
Emmanuel Macron, who is likely to remain President of France, was educated mainly by the Jesuits, at the Lycée la Providence in Amiens, and he chose to be baptised a Catholic at the age of 12. And according to a poll carried out by Ifop, 28% of French Catholics voted for him in the first…
Easter is not about chocolate eggs – but love, sacrifice and redemption
The View It is the evening of Palm Sunday as I write this – just a few hours ago we came home from Armagh where the annual Mass for ‘the disappeared’ was celebrated by Archbishop Eamon Martin. It was a very poignant and sad occasion as we gave thanks for the recovery of the bodies of…
Church must regain the nerve to teach unpopular things
It is time to step up and embrace the call to prophetic witness, writes David Quinn A strange thing has happened since the abortion referendum of 2018, namely the Church in Ireland has almost completely stopped talking about the issue. Church leaders rarely preach about marriage and the family either, or more accurately, about why…
Wahlberg says ‘Father Stu’ found him, not the opposite
Mark Pattison Mark Wahlberg, the Catholic star of the new movie “Father Stu,” has been hitting the interview trail to support the film. He’s got skin in the game, as he’s one of the movie’s producers, financing “Father Stu” largely with his own money. Not that it was his idea to make “Father Stu.” Rather,…



David Quinn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser


Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny
Nuala O’Loan

