On July 1, you, and as many other people as you can muster, are urgently required at the most important Rally for Life ever organised in Dublin. This is the rally to Save the Eighth, and there has never been a more critical, more crucial, time for the pro-life majority to stand up and be…
Category: Opinion
Calling anti-Catholicism exactly what it really is
The report into the country’s mother and baby homes is due out next February. I think that points very strongly to an abortion referendumwithin weeks of that, in other words in March or April of next year. The Government won’t want public anger at the mother and baby homes to go to waste. Those who…
DUP should pin down commitments that will outlast this temporary political arrangement.
Changes in the political environment have occurred in the past eighteen months with almost bewildering frequency, in many cases requiring radical reassessment of where we stand. This week, a new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is due to be elected. Our reaction, regardless of any political affiliations, should be to wish him well, as the country faces…
Catholics today are afraid to stand up for themselves in hostile society
Dear Editor, Your front page story last week (08/06/2017) about Bríd Smith’s comments that the Church should be thrown in the “dustbin”, depressed me more than anything else. I have gone past the stage of anger and outrage, at how easy and popularly acceptable it has become to attack the Catholic Church. I would imagine…
Francis flexes papal muscle in Nigeria
Here’s a papal pop quiz: When’s the last time you can remember a Pope openly demanding that all the priests of a specific diocese, whether they currently live there or not, write him a personal letter within 30 days pledging their loyalty, and threatening them with suspension if they don’t comply? If your answer is…
Christians can reach out to help Muslims stop radicalisation
In the wake of the London attacks by radical Islamists, Theresa May has said, “enough is enough”. But how does one counter a movement so loosely organised that it scarcely even deserves the term? Or an ideology which relies on lone agents or small numbers of attackers and on the use of vehicles and knives as…
Church must not shrink away from the ideal
World Meeting of Families must proclaim the truth with charity and clarity, writes David Quinn Every moral act has two main components, the objective and the subjective. Here’s an example. If someone steals, what they have done is wrong. The act of stealing is wrong in itself, objectively wrong. But the person might be starving.…
In Catholic terms, anyway, US/Europe ties seem in good shape
Right now, it doesn’t seem much like hyperbole to say the political relationship between the United States and Europe appears to be on the brink of unravelling. At the very least, ties across the Atlantic are facing serious new strains. Last week, US President Donald Trump announced a pull-out from the Paris climate change agreement,…
Pentecost Pope affirms charismatic renewal as ‘current of grace’
Addressing one of his favourite topics, Pope Francis spoke energetically over Pentecost weekend to huge crowds at the Circus Maximus and at St Peter’s Square of the creative power of the Holy Spirit to unify through diversity, while bringing peace, joy and courage. Following three hours of high-octane praise and testimonies in many languages under…
The seamless garment
John of the Cross teaches that within spirituality and morality there are no exempt areas. Simply put, you cannot be a saint or a highly moral person if you allow yourself a moral exemption or two. Thus, I may not allow myself to split off one moral flaw or sinful habit and see it as…