Dear Editor, Every year we have Catholic schools week, a week in which we celebrate the importance of the Catholic ethos of our Church-run schools. Lofty words are spoken about the importance of our Catholic values in the education of the young. But the test of those words in the near future will be the…
The View On Monday, the Church celebrates the great moment of the first revelation of the Messiah to all nations and peoples: the Epiphany. Traditionally considered even more theologically significant than the Nativity, this was the moment in time when Christ was revealed as not only a Messiah for God’s chosen people, but for…
We need to have an honest and open-minded debate about climate change, writes David Quinn I confess to being in two minds about the green agenda for reasons I’ll try and explain. Green issues have pushed to the forefront of public debate in the past year. Here in Ireland, the Green party did quite well…
Questions of Faith The phrase goes: “New year, new me.” The mentality of recognising your weaknesses and setting new goals aimed at improvement is ubiquitous across the western world. Some people decide to hit the gym, others try to jump on the diet train and many of us will attempt to stave off alcohol.…
Really, I was only ever superficially aware of the disaster of Chernobyl. Yes, I remember when it happened in April 1986, and that it was awful, and indicative that the Soviet Union was hopelessly badly organised – something I had seen in visits to Russia and the USSR anyway. And I admired the work that…
There’s a Latin axiom which argues that there’s no accounting for taste, de gustibus non est disputandum. I reference it as a preamble to my annual list of the 10 books I most enjoyed this past year because, admittedly, taste is somewhat subjective. I chose these particular books because they’re the ones that spoke most…
Dear Editor, After reading Bairbre Cahill’s piece on ‘It’s time to end the sacramental production line’ (IC 12/12/19) I can only give you my own experience. Could I suggest that we bring the preparation into the schools rather than taking it out? I was one of those parents who just brought their children for sacraments…
Notebook The New Year brings with it a barrage of holiday offers. Travel agents and airlines know that the depths of winter create in us a desire for the delights of summer, and they know how to capitalise on that desire: leave behind the clouds, the rain, the gloom and head for the sunshine!…
Have you ever wondered what it was like for Mary and Joseph to make the journey to Bethlehem? Or, for Jesus and his disciples to make the trip from the Galilee to Jerusalem? From the earliest times, Christians from all over the world have gone to the Holy Land to walk in the footsteps of…
One of the most uplifting Christmas presents I received was an old cassette tape – remember those listening tapes once played on a cassette machine? Well, I still have, and use, a cassette machine. Back in the 1990s, my late nephew gave me a tape of some Dublin schoolchildren re-telling their versions of Bible stories…
Maria Steen
David Quinn
Colm Fitzpatrick
Mary Kenny
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly