The View It was an interesting start to Holy Week 2021. Last Palm Sunday evening, Michael Kelly of this newspaper reported that the State had confirmed in the Declan Ganley case (which challenges the ban on public worship) that it was an offence to go to Mass, or for a priest to say Mass publicly…

There has been widespread criticism of the criminalisation of Mass with people drawing obvious historic parallels, writes Ruadhán Jones Garda roadblocks barring parishioners from attending Mass in Co. Cavan raised historic parallels with penal times, as it was confirmed over the weekend that public worship is now deemed a legal offence. The confirmation came when…

Other countries are opting for a more balanced approach to coronavirus, writes David Quinn At the weekend, the Netherlands played Latvia in a qualifying match for the soccer World Cup. In Ireland, the equivalent game with Luxembourg was devoid of spectators. In the Netherlands, 5,000 were permitted to attend in a stadium that can fit…

The rhetoric from some members of the Oireachtas should seriously worry us, writes David Mullins During the course of a recent Dáil debate, Alan Kelly, the leader of the Labour party, suggested that the assets of those religious orders who were involved in the mother and baby homes should be seized in the event that…

Letter from Rome In the past week several intriguing news stories moved across the Vatican wire, and the mere act of listing them is likely enough to illustrate what they have in common. In the latest hearing in a Vatican sex abuse trial, an official of the former head of St Peter’s Basilica testified he’d…

Pope Francis, his liturgy office and his communications team made very deliberate decisions over the past year with the goal of letting people experience how close the Pope was to them in their isolation and suffering. And people – tens of thousands of them – responded, praying with him and for him. As the Vatican…

Notebook A ‘pregnant pause’ is supposed to be one of the best tools in the armoury of a public speaker. In my 37 years of preaching, I have used it on only one occasion — on an Easter Sunday morning. It was amazingly effective. Easter Sunday is a hard day for the preacher. In Holy…

In a recent book, Frostquake, the English writer Juliet Nicolson recalls the winter of 1962-63, which was the coldest for perhaps 80 years. Everything froze, communications broke down, lights and heating went out. When the thaw came, in March of 1963, it is Ms Nicolson’s thesis that Britain – and elsewhere, too – woke to…