The lockdown has caused huge damage and it’s simplistic to look at it only in terms of lives saved writes David Quinn Public worship in Ireland is now due to return on June 29, not July 20, as originally planned. It’s still one of the latest dates in Europe even though our outbreak was not…
The View Last week, the NI Assembly voted to reject the imposition, in Northern Ireland, of abortion legislation by the British government, which extends to all non-fatal disabilities including Down syndrome. What the British government should do now is repeal the law which was forced through parliament last year using an emergency procedure designed to…
Letter from America The late US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once famously said that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. A Catholic equivalent might be that everyone is entitled to disagree with their bishop, but not to pretend he is not the bishop. Some years ago, whilst on…
Where’s the fairness in life? Why are some people so undeservedly blessed in this world while others are seemingly cursed? Why are craftiness, self-serving ambition, taking advantage of others, and dishonesty so frequently rewarded? This has no quick answer. In his book The Magnificent Defeat, the renowned novelist and preacher, Frederick Buechner, takes up this…
One of the great hurts that parishioners share with me over a cup of tea when I speak at missions and novena (remember when we used to be able to do things like that?) is the disappointment that their adult children don’t bring their own children up in the faith. Grandparents often feel marooned with…
Notebook For some Irish Catholics, it’s hard to think of Corpus Christi, the feast we celebrate this weekend, without getting nostalgic about the beauty of past celebrations, and even becoming resentful about the almost total absence of Eucharistic processions in the life of the Church today. I never experienced Corpus Christi processions when I was…
Dear Editor, I would like to commend Maria Steen on an excellent article [IC 28/05/2020] on why we should not outsource the moral formation of our children. As a corollary to that article, I thought it might be opportune to succinctly summarise the Church’s beautiful theology of the body. This theology teaches that the sexual…
Among the most interesting developments in neuro-science in recent years has been the study of the human brain, which can now be examined in great detail with the progress in medical technology. The study of the adolescent brain has yielded especially fascinating results. Teenagers have been scolded for lounging in bed for hours, and neuroscience…
The View When the happy day comes when Covid-19 no longer constitutes an ongoing serious threat to human life, I hope that things will not go back to normal. I hope they can be better than they were and particularly in the area of the celebration of sacraments. For example, there is one Sacrament…
Letter from America Donald Trump is the best president in the history of the United States…or at least that’s what he told Catholic leaders on a conference call recently… Twice during the month of April, the US President held conference calls with faith leaders – the first was a mix of Christians, Jews, and…
David Quinn
Nuala O’Loan
John L. Allen Jr.
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny
Breda O'Brien