Battering the beleaguered bishops is neither going to spur them into effective action nor is it going to hasten reconciliation, writes Dom Mark Patrick Hederman In 2008 I was elected Abbot of Glenstal Abbey. This vote could not be ratified in Rome, however, unless I, who had been a brother monk for almost 50…
The View Marian Finucane interviewed Katie Ascough on her Saturday radio programme last weekend. The discussion focused on Ascough’s recent impeachment as president of the UCD Students’ Union. The central issue in that impeachment was the fact that Ascough withdrew from circulation a booklet for first year students. She did so having been advised by…
If the political will existed, there could have been a reasonable discussion about the Eighth Amendment, writes Cora Sherlock It didn’t have to be like this. But, unfortunately, the Oireachtas committee on abortion decided otherwise from the get-go. As each week passes, this becomes clearer as one abortion advocate after another presents to the…
Spirituality Jesus tells us that in the end we will be judged on how we dealt with the poor in our lives, but there are already dangers now, in this life, in not reaching out to the poor Here’s how Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy, teases out that danger: “I’ve come to believe that the…
Editor’s Comment News that the final Mass during the Pope’s expected visit next year will almost certainly be held in Dublin’s Phoenix Park is a welcome sign that Church leaders are thinking big. There has been precious little to be joyful about in the Church in Ireland in recent decades, and many people acutely…
Dear Editor, Your lead story ‘Boost as research reveals Irish are “astonishingly religious”’ (IC 9/11/2017) was a real shot in the arm, especially given the constant moaning and gloating we hear about our Church being in decline. Sure, the picture’s not great – in many ways the European Social Survey figures seem to tell us…
Notebook Martin Delaney Some years ago while living in the Washington DC area I had an opportunity to visit the Vietnam Memorial Wall. The monument is a long black granite wall with thousands of names of those who lost their lives in the war. As I walked slowly through the memorial site a number…
Editor’s Comment When bad things happen to good people – what philosophers and theologians call the problem of evil – is one of the most troubling and persistent questions facing religious believers. How does one reconcile belief in the existence of a God who is all-loving and all-powerful with the reality of evil in…
I was chatting with a group of friends, and the conversation turned to the mood of the times – with particular application to the new sensitivities around sexual harassment and those who prey on young girls. “Remember that song that Maurice Chevalier used to sing, Thank Heavens for Little Girls? It would be banned if it…
The View I recently spent a morning with religious education teachers and diocesan workers from the Diocese of Derry talking about the teaching of relationship and sex education. I met a wonderful group of lively, compassionate, caring, interested and dedicated young people. The following day in Galway, I met priests, brothers and sisters who belong to religious…
Maria Steen
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny
Nuala O’Loan