The event marking partition was always going to be a highwire act from a Catholic point of view, but history will remember the ceremony well, writes Michael Kelly Leaders of the country’s Christian traditions have vowed to face “difficult truth” and work closer together to ensure that the fragile peace process in the North leaves…
In the current James Bond movie – No Time to Die – the villain, name of Safin, is played by an actor showing facial scarring (although Rami Malek’s facial markings are purely the product of the make-up department). And he’s not the first Bond villain to be a ‘scarface’. And it’s certainly unchristian to imply…
The View Campaigns to make euthanasia/assisted suicide legal are underway in both England and Wales, and here in Ireland. The most recent bill was before the House of Lords on Friday. We had just three minutes each to make the case against the bill…a challenge! That was very little time in which to contemplate the…
Networks set up to make life more interactive also operate in a more insidious way by harming your peace of mind, writes David Quinn In George Orwell’s 1984 it was ‘Big Brother’ who was constantly watching us. ‘Big Brother’ was the totalitarian state – it wanted to control every aspect of our lives, shaping our…
Letter from Rome After the death earlier this year of a close friend and former colleague, Benedict XVI wrote a letter to the monastery to which his late friend belonged in which he offered condolences, and said he hoped his journey to the afterlife would not be long in coming. German priest and Cistercian monk…
Even though Pope Francis will not attend the 26th UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in person, the Vatican delegation and the Catholic Church will be “everywhere” during the two-week summit – from the highest-level private negotiations to the sidelines with grassroots “social action” and community-led events, said two delegates. And most importantly, Church representatives…
“No man is an island.” John Donne wrote those words four centuries ago and they are as true now as they were then, except we don’t believe them anymore. Today more and more of us are beginning to define our nuclear families and our carefully chosen circle of friends precisely as a self-sufficient island, and…
Dear Editor, The title of Fr Sean Smith’s item in your 26/08/2021 issue was ‘We still speak about keeping the Faith as if it were something, instead of a relationship with someone’. David Quinn’s article in your 14/10/2021 issue is titled ‘The Church has underestimated the reality of evil’ and discusses the report on child…
Notebook Probably the best-loved poem written in the Irish language begins with the words ‘Messe ocus Pangur Bán’. In Robin Flower’s translation, the first stanza reads: “I and Pangur Bán my cat,/‘Tis a like task we are at:/Hunting mice is his delight,/Hunting words I sit all night.” It was probably written at some point in…
I’ve mentioned once or twice before that I grew up in Northern Ireland and for me it will always be home. When I was six-years-old, the British and Irish governments signed what became known as the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985. For the first time, it gave the Irish Government a say in the day-to-day affairs…
Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny
Nuala O’Loan
David Quinn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser