I grew up in a world where most people who had jobs worked in an office, a shop, a factory or some form of shared working location. Very few people spent the working day alone – perhaps the farmer out in his fields, or the priest saying his breviary – but even then, there was a…
The View On June 30, the Department of Health published the first annual report on abortion following the repeal of the Eighth Amendment in 2018. The report, though scant in detail, gave us a glimpse of the new reality of abortion in Ireland: 6,666 abortions in just one year. During the referendum campaign, pro-life spokespeople…
The Vatican is under increasing pressure to take a stronger line with Beijing, writes Jason Osborne Recent footage documenting blindfolded, handcuffed, and shaven-headed people being detained and loaded onto a train in the Xinjiang region of northern China has seen the international spotlight slowly turning in China’s direction. What China is being accused of is…
Slavery remains one of the great stains on human history and the role of Christians is chequered, writes David Quinn In America there is an attempt to have 1776, the year Independence was declared, supplanted in the national memory by a new date – 1619. That is the year the first group of 20 slaves…
Letter from America In failing to challenge Donald Trump on his moral inconsistencies, Catholics have also failed their Church One of my all-time favourite television shows is The West Wing, the seven-season epoch chronicling life inside the White House’s executive office. At the helm of the nation is President Jed Bartlett, a Catholic Democrat who…
It is normal to feel restless as a child, lonely as a teenager, and frustrated by lack of intimacy as an adult; after all we live with insatiable desires of every kind, none of which will ever find full fulfillment this side of eternity. Where do these desires come from? Why are they so insatiable?…
Notebook I think I must be the luckiest priest in Ireland. Luck is the key word there, because through no fault or effort of my own, I was eight years in this parish before Covid-19 struck. This was a powerful help just now. It means I know the place and its people very well (and…
Dear Editor, Every Thursday morning without fail your fine newspaper arrives through my letterbox. You and your staff and team of writers deserve huge credit for keeping the paper going with such exceptional quality during what most be one of the most challenging period that any of us will ever experience. The Irish Catholic is…
Robert Runcie, who died in 2000, was a well-liked Archbishop of Canterbury who had warm ecumenical links with the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Basil Hume. He participated in a joint service at Canterbury – on the spot where St Thomas More was murdered – with Pope John Paul II in 1982. Dr Runcie’s wife, Rosalind,…
Going against the grain has earned Poland an international media rebuke, writes Jason Osborne Poland has opted for the road less travelled by with its re-election of incumbent Andrzej Duda for a second term as president following a tight race against Warsaw mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski. Mr Duda’s victory was sealed with the reigning president securing…
Mary Kenny
Maria Steen
David Quinn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser