Merton treasured the word, writes Michael W. Higgins Pope Francis recognised in the monk-poet Thomas Merton a prophetic and moral genius, ranked along with Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, and Abraham Lincoln. And he did that in Washington, in a powerful address to the Joint Houses of Congress. Can you imagine that happening now…
Letter from Rome Marshall McLuhan famously said, “the medium is the message.” In the same vein, one might add that equally often, “the messenger is the message.” When you’re trying to put a human face on something, in other words, the best strategy is usually to have a genuinely decent person making the pitch.…
Fr Bernard Healy I was in Dublin a few weeks back for the launch of the ‘Photo Detectives’ exhibition at the National Photographic Archive in Meeting House Square, Temple Bar. The exhibition celebrates the work of a project launched by the National Library of Ireland back in June 2011. Every weekday a photo from…
It’s hard to find your soulmate in someone who doesn’t believe you have a soul. Recently on The Moth Radio Hour, a young woman shared the story of her breakup with her boyfriend, a young man for whom she had deep feelings. The problem was that she, a person with a deep faith, a Mormon,…
Reformation is a live debate Dear Editor, Your special Reformation issue of The Irish Catholic (IC 26/10/2017) was remarkable for its breadth and depth, but its real value may lie in its relevance to current Church debates. Take, for example, the piece on the Catholic Counter-Reformation by UCD’s Prof. Tadhg Ó hAnnracháin in which he…
Editor’s Comment BBC One aired the first instalment of Gunpowder at the weekend, a three-part retelling of the 1605 Catholic plot to blow up the House of Lords. It made for tough – if gripping – viewing. The scenes of the executions of Catholics amidst a blaze of anti-Catholic hysteria were brutal and it seemed…
The grandchildren are getting all ready for Hallowe’en with their witches and warlocks and wizards’ costumes. Let’s not rain on their parade, I ponder. The turning of the seasons has to be marked by some ritual and if it’s a pagan one – which has endured and even been re-invigorated – then that’s the way…
Kathleen Dowling Singh, RIP No community should botch its deaths. That’s a wise statement from Mircea Eliade and apropos in the face of the death two weeks ago of Kathleen Dowling Singh. Kathleen was a hospice worker, a psychotherapist, and a very deep and influential spiritual writer. She is known and deeply respected among…
Prayers are becoming words without meaning Dear Editor, It is always sad, and even a bit disturbing when, as a couple stand before the altar, there is no obvious passion in that moment when the vows of marriage are pronounced. In a similar way, I am constantly disappointed at the way the Our Father is…
Fr Conor McDonough ‘Post tenebras lux’ (‘Light after the darkness’), the motto of Calvin’s Geneva, is proposed by some as a summary of the Reformation. After the darkness of the Middle Ages, the previously hidden light of the Word of God is unleashed by Luther and his followers who come armed with vernacular Bibles,…
John L. Allen Jr.
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny