The View For many years past, there have been warnings of the danger of a pandemic, which mostly went unheeded. Now it is upon us. We were quickly reminded of the great influenza epidemic of 1918-19, which carried off millions of people, young adults in particular. Throughout history, and to this day in many…
Category: Opinion
The inconvenient truth for the Aussie media: Pell is innocent
Political and ideological biases have often poisoned the facts, writes David Quinn Do you remember the case of Fr Kevin Reynolds? He was the priest RTÉ wrongly accused of fathering a child through rape, one of the most serious allegations you can make against someone. The allegation was made on an edition of Prime…
Bashing Britain is cold comfort for Ireland’s afflicted
With some honourable exceptions, we don’t have journalists in Ireland, we have cheerleaders, writes John McGuirk “Excellent investigative Journalism in the Sunday Times”, tweeted Irish Independent columnist Colette Browne on Sunday morning, in response to the extensive report the London-based paper had just published laying out the multiple alleged failures of Boris Johnson’s…
Pope Simulator computer game set for 2021
Letter from Rome A Polish software developer has announced a new computer game called Pope Simulator is to be released next year. The game opens with a conclave in which the player is elected Pope, and then presents various scenarios that require decisions. “Our idea assumes the possibility to use, among others, the pope’s so-called…
Youth increasingly lonely but maintain strong Faith, finds study
Christopher White A new study in the US finds that while young people are experiencing heightened levels of loneliness and isolation as a result of social distancing, they are not experiencing a decline in their Faith. Among those surveyed, 35% of respondents said that they are actually experiencing an increase of Faith and 46% attested to…
Churches as field hospitals
Most of us are familiar with Pope Francis’ comment that today the Church needs to be a field hospital. What’s implied here? First, that right now the Church is not a field hospital, or at least not much of one. Too many Churches of all denominations see the world more as an opponent to be…
The power of reaching out despite social distancing
Notebook Recently, I had a conversation with a friend whose husband died some months ago. She is desperately lonely and that loneliness is made far worse because her children and grandchildren cannot visit her during these Covid-19 Days. But it is the loss of her husband, her best friend that brings the greatest loneliness:…
It’s time to re-open our churches again for prayer
I feel blessed under lockdown that within the allocated two kilometres from my home in Dublin are two beautiful churches which remain open for prayer despite this pandemic. As part of the permitted daily exercise, I always make a short visit to either Holy Cross in Dundrum or the Church of St John the Evangelist in…
The killer North and South which isn’t a virus
Dear Editor, I welcome David Quinn’s excellent article on the killer, north and south of Ireland, which is not the virus [IC 09/04/2020]. As he states, many, many more will be killed by this virus compared to those through the coronavirus. Where is the outcry about this? Why the silence from so many quarters which are more…
Meghan and Harry’s search for meaning
Just as the coronavirus (Covid-19) took hold in America – and all over Europe – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, familiarly known as Harry and Meghan, launched their new project. This is a charitable foundation called ‘Archewell’, and it will replace their previous ‘Sussex Royal’ brand, which, having chucked their relationship with British royalty,…


David Quinn

John L. Allen Jr.

Fr Ronald Rolheiser

Michael Kelly

Mary Kenny