It’s no secret that today we’re witnessing a massive decline in church attendance and, seemingly, a parallel loss of interest in religion. The former mindset, within which we worried, sometimes obsessively, about sin, church-going, and heaven and hell no longer holds sway for millions of people. As one parent, worried about the religious state of…
Dear Editor, Chai Brady’s article about missalettes (IC 05/09/19) highlights a situation which has been allowed to continue for far too long and which needs to be seriously addressed. When the ‘New Mass’ in English was introduced in the late 1960s – as a result of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy from the Second…
Notebook Some months ago, I heard a request on our local radio station for a song by Max Boyce [pictured above]. The song played was familiar to me but not so the performer. I had never heard of him before and, no doubt, that says more about me than him. In any case, I liked…
An elderly priest – long since gone to his reward – once recounted a story to me about his time as an ecclesiastical inspector. What we now call a religious education advisor, his job was to tour schools ensuring that children were properly prepared for the reception of the sacraments. On the whole my priest…
The View If you build it, they will come. This famous catchphrase from the 1989 movie Field of Dreams is actually a misquote. In the film, an Iowa corn farmer played by Kevin Costner is walking through his fields one night when he hears a disembodied voice saying: “If you build it, he will…
Ireland is increasingly a cold house for people who hold values seen as out of step, writes David Quinn The American Vice-President, Mike Pence, was in Ireland last week and it is fair to say he did not receive a hundred thousand welcomes. Yes, he was met by President Higgins, and Leo Varadkar and…
One of the most cheerful developments over the course of my lifetime has been the advent of cheap clothes. In my mother’s generation, elegant garments were beyond the reach of most people, and especially most women, who often yearned for pretty things. Look at the photographs of yesteryear: people of means did have decent clothes,…
The Papal visit to Africa Last week marked the beginning of Pope Francis’ six-day visit to Africa, the fourth time he has visited the continent since his appointment. Exploring topics such as war, corruption and climate change, the Pontiff sought to move the hearts and minds of people whose countries have been racked by…
Modern-day palliative care approaches and hospices have made it such that uncontrolled symptoms at the time of death are rare, writes Chris Garrett Caesar Augustus died peacefully at the age of 75 in the arms of his third wife Livia; unusual for that time given the bloody and traumatic deaths of some other Roman…
According to Isaac the Syrian, a famous 7th-Century bishop and theologian, a person who’s genuinely humble gives off a certain scent that other people will sense and that even animals will pick up so that wild animals, including snakes, will fall under its spell and never harm that person. Here’s his logic: a humble person,…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly
Breda O'Brien
David Quinn
Mary Kenny
Colm Fitzpatrick