What does it mean to be pro-life? To me it means defending human life from conception until the natural end of life; not deliberating taking human life, unless in extreme cases of self-defence. If a mad axeman is coming towards you with homicidal intent, you would be reasonably entitled to defend yourself, and those around…
The View Pope Francis’ recent Urbi et Orbi address was the most poignant moment of his pontificate. There was something profoundly moving about the emptiness of St Peter’s Square. Next to a crucifix that witnessed the defeat of a plague in Rome in 1522, Christ’s Vicar stood alone in the rain and, in the…
In a strange way, this crisis could act as a moment of grace as well as of suffering, writes David Quinn With public Masses suspended, we find ourselves in unprecedented times. How many previously regular Massgoers will revert to their pre-crisis levels of attendance? That’s only one of the questions to be considered in…
In the streets and towns of Ireland, these days have taken on a real Lenten feeling of desolation, writes Fr Jeremy Corley One cold morning a few weeks ago, just before receiving the ashes on my forehead, I heard the traditional Ash Wednesday reading from the prophet Joel: “Proclaim a solemn assembly. Call the…
Perhaps the one traditional trait that is left to some of us is that we know how to endure, writes Pól Ó Muirí We have been here before. Writing in his diary in 1961, the poet Seán Ó Ríordáin notes: “An fliú sa chathair agus, de réir na dtuairiscí, ar fud na tíre.” Flu…
Christopher White The belief that Catholic social thought requires valuing human life and dignity over economic concerns during this coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis was the widespread consensus among Catholic leaders during a recent US online forum. The range of voices included a small business owner, healthcare professionals, a policy expert and a priest – all…
Caoimhe de Barra Today, as the world joins together to battle the coronavirus (Covid-19), we are reminded how connected we are. We are one human family who share God’s earth together. We have the same hopes. Today, we face the same fear. But this fear can be overcome by us acting together, in solidarity…
We don’t much like the word ‘disillusionment’. Normally we think of it as a negative, something pejorative, and not as something that does us a favour. And yet disillusionment is a positive, it means the dispelling of an illusion and illusions, unless we need one as a temporary tonic, are not good for us. They…
Notebook It’s all very ironic, isn’t it? For years, right-minded people, I among them, have condemned the way in which social media was taking over our society. And yet here we are, in a virtual lockdown, utterly impotent but for the same social media. I have been both a denouncer and one deserving of…
Dear Editor, Many wonderful, good and necessary efforts are being made at this time of crisis, this time of the Covid-19 virus. I thank God for all this, but I wish to add another much needed and very essential effort – a wake-up call; a call to conversion – a call back to the Ten…
Mary Kenny
Maria Steen
David Quinn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser