Notebook Picture the scene: two men face each other in debate in a stunningly ornate hall. A jury of experts listens intently. They are in Valladolid, the year is 1550, and the debate concerns the moral and legal status of the newly conquered ‘savages’ in Spanish territories. The two men: Dominican friar, Bartolomé de las…
Back in the 1990s, I seem to remember Irish students marching in favour of abortion rights, and carrying banners with the name and number of a London clinic – that of Marie Stopes International. The Marie Stopes name was being advertised, in effect, as a symbol of a ‘feminist’ cause of freedom. This, I think,…
The View This column is being written as we begin to be able to return to worship the Risen Lord as a real and not just a virtual community. What a shame the Government has flip-flopped so often on numbers. Of course, not everybody will be able to or should return. People with medical conditions…
We cannot expect perfection from all of those who went before us writes David Quinn You’ll have noticed in the last few weeks that statues of certain historical figures are under attack and have even being pulled down because of an association between those figures and racism. The most dramatic example took place in Bristol…
Letter from Rome This week I participated in a panel discussion here in Rome to present a new book by a friend and colleague, Edward Pentin, titled The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates, to be published by Sophia Press on August 4. As I said that night, the book reflects a fairly conservative view on…
He taught us how to pray while not knowing how to pray – that’s a comment sometimes made about Henri Nouwen. It seems almost contradictory to say that. How can someone teach us to pray when he himself doesn’t know how? Well, two complexities conspired together here. Henri Nouwen was a unique mixture of weakness,…
Dear Editor, As the dioceses and parishes prepare to open up their churches and cathedrals again, albeit in restricted measures, I am sure many would join with me in thanking the many priests, bishops, religious, deacons and faithful who continued to minister to us during the weeks of lockdown. Through their creative usage of modern…
Notebook In recent days I have found myself awake quite a bit when ordinarily sleep would have overtaken me. Thanks be to God; I sleep easily and well as a rule. You might or might not wonder or care why my sleep has been broken but I need to fill this page, so I am…
After 107 days, I was overwhelmed to be able to attend Mass on Monday [pictured]. The joy was palpable after the long Lent and Eucharistic famine we have been living. Coronavirus is still very much with us, and we must continue to approach the Celebration of the Eucharist with caution. I’m also conscious of the…
Does the Pope vote for a Green party? He clearly is supportive of the Green cause. I was surprised to turn on BBC radio last Monday morning and hear, at the top of the news programme, not a politician talking about the state of the country, nor a reporter analysing the tragic killing in a…
Mary Kenny
Breda O'Brien
David Quinn
John L. Allen Jr.
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly