It is inevitable that in 2018 there will be much public discourse on the subject of Humanae Vitae – it being the fiftieth anniversary, in July this year, of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical (‘Of Human Life’). After two papal commissions, and many committees of experts, Paul VI reaffirmed the Church’s traditional teaching against artificial contraception…
The View On the day the Oireachtas Committee considering the Eighth Amendment recommended to the government to hold a referendum to legalise abortion in this country, a miraculous news story appeared across the water in Britain. Vanellope Hope Wilkins was born a month premature with a condition that had caused doctors to advise her…
David Quinn casts his eagle eye over who was hot and who was not in the secular world In the run-up to Christmas, Pope Francis noted that out of a sense of “false respect” for non-Christians we are airbrushing Christ and Christianity from the festival. The Pope said: “In the name of a false…
Taste is subjective. Keep that in mind as I share with you the 10 books that most touched me last year. That isn’t necessarily a recommendation that you read them. They may leave you cold, or angry at me that I praised them. Be your own critic here and one who isn’t afraid to be…
The issue of religious freedom will continue to be a major feature in public debate in the year ahead. Central to the discussion is the extent to which people ought to be free when there are what appear to be conflicting and competing rights. For example, where there is a legal right for a same-sex…
The Notebook Fr Bernard Healy The release of an animated movie called The Star caught my attention. The premise of the film – an imaginative telling of the Nativity focusing on the donkey and his animal companions reminded me that we have a plethora of traditions about various animals associated with the Christmas story.…
Dear Editor, Thank you for the excellent article by Fr Andrew McMahon on the Church and the media (IC 14/12/17). As Fr McMahon states, the media is generally hostile, sometimes very hostile, to the Church. In particular, the incessant pro-abortion propaganda in much of the media, most notably the Irish Times, which stands in contrast…
Bishop George Bell was a notable Church of England bishop who might well have become Archbishop of Canterbury, but Winston Churchill disliked Bishop’s Bell’s opposition to aerial area bombing during World War II and probably blocked his candidature. Dr Bell described the bombing of unarmed women and children as “barbaric” in 1941. He was a…
The View T.S. Eliot is one of my favourite poets, and I particularly love parts of the ‘Four Quartets’, although I don’t pretend to understand fully his work. ‘Burnt Norton’, the first of the ‘Four Quartets’, contains references to summer and autumn, but for some reason, I often think of parts of it as…
Legally speaking marriage is now only a friendship pact, writes David Quinn Two male friends are to marry shortly so one can avoid paying inheritance tax when the other dies. Neither of the two men is gay and the marriage will be totally legitimate in the eyes of the law. Revenue has confirmed to…
Mary Kenny
Maria Steen
David Quinn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly
Breda O'Brien