The View Many problems in life arise from the habitual gap between ideals and realities. The Church knows this well, as it works at the coalface trying to bring into some harmony the ideal of a Christian life and a Christian society with the realities of personal sinfulness and sometimes dire societal failings. Churches are…
The liberal view of sexual relationship is so dominant it is coming to regard any opposing views as a form of bigotry, writes David Quinn The Catholic Church places contraceptive use among acts it considers “intrinsically evil”. This is extremely strong language, rarely heard today. When Pope St Paul VI issued Humanae Vitae in 1968,…
Letter from Rome Catholicism is a vast, riotously diverse global institution, counting 1.3 billion members scattered in every nook and cranny of the planet. As a result, Catholic experience is a constant interplay between the universal and the local, a few basic constants refracted and lived out in a stunning myriad of different milieu. One…
Hours after Bolivia’s former interim president was detained and accused of promoting an alleged coup against her predecessor Evo Morales, the country’s bishops released a statement saying that “the politics of revenge” and a justice system aligned with the ruling political power “do not create confidence in the people”. “The arrest and prosecution of the…
Among people of faith, there is the notion that if you are person of deep faith you can easily renounce the things of this world, see the world for all its ephemerality, not cling to things, and die more peacefully. Not true. That is naïve, at least a lot of the time. James Hillman writes:…
Dear Editor, Yes; it is right that we should examine how children in mother and baby homes were treated and how their adoptions were arranged in the past century. But each generation has to face up to its own responsibilities! A recent study conducted by researchers at University College Cork has been published in the…
The howls of derision from some quarters that met the recent note from the Vatican confirming that the Church does not bless same-sex unions should sound a warning bell for anyone looking naively at the idea of a national synod. The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in a short document approved by…
Notebook Pope Francis said recently: “I know that many of you go to confession before Easter… Many will say to me: ‘But Father… I can’t leave the house and I want to make my peace with the Lord. I want him to embrace me… How can I do that unless I find a priest?’ “If…
Following the appalling murder of Sarah Everard, kidnapped at London’s Clapham Common, a tsunami of protest has arisen in Britain about violence against women. An extraordinary number of women have said that they do not feel safe in the streets – or sometimes at home – because of the threat of male violence. The First…
The View Little boys growing up today experience a different world from that in which our sons grew up. I remember teaching them to be polite, to open doors for people, to offer their seats to those who might need them etc. Now they tell me that some women interpret such basic courtesy as some…
David Quinn
John L. Allen Jr.
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny
Nuala O’Loan