In trying to eradicate Ireland’s Christian heritage, secularists could destroy Ireland’s identity, writes David Quinn Once French presidential candidate, Francois Fillon, was damaged by the scandal of paying his wife and family out of public funds for jobs that seemingly did not exist, it was inevitable that Emmanuel Macron would win the French election. Le…

The Pope and the American president are surprisingly similar, writes John Allen Jr. Pope Francis recently met with the Vatican’s communications brain trust, urging them to use “a little violence, but good, good violence” in order to create new and more effective ways of getting the Church’s message across. If the Vatican really wants to…

Classically, both in the world and in our churches, we have seen despair as the ultimate, unforgivable sin. The simple notion was that neither God, nor anyone else, can save you if you simply give up, despair, make yourself impossible to reach. Most often in the popular mind this was applied to suicide. To die…

Over the last 20 years or so, I’ve noticed that many with a vocation to priesthood have headed for religious communities like the Dominicans or Franciscans rather than diocesan life. Mothers have expressed their relief that this was their sons’ choice, rather than what they perceived as the loneliness of diocesan life. I’ve often wondered…

Many people mistakenly confuse the Catholic Church with its governing structure, writes David Quinn People are by now well familiar with the case against the Catholic Church. As Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said in a little-noticed address a few days ago, the attacks are relentless. We are much less familiar with the case in favour of…

Many people inside and outside the Catholic Church were glad Bishop Eamonn Casey received full honours from the Church when he died. He was, in his heyday, a charismatic and progressive figure, closely identified with the Catholic-founded development aid charity Trócaire. He was exposed to the crossfire in El Salvador that cost the life of…

Greg Daly asks whether the Religious Sisters of Charity can legitimately host the new National Maternity Hospital In recent days a story broke in California that the American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) had filed a lawsuit against a Catholic hospital for denying a hysterectomy last year to a woman who identified as a man, and…

Dorothy Day is alleged to have said: “Don’t call me a saint; I don’t want to be dismissed that easily!” A new biography on her by her granddaughter, Kate Hennessy, Dorothy Day – The World will be saved by Beauty: An Intimate Portrait of my Grandmother, will, I believe, go a long way in preventing…

Fr Vincent Sherlock Nobody was as surprised as myself. Ed Sheeran was playing his second concert in Croke Park and the reviews of the first concert were incredible. I thought about what a positive influence Ed had been in the lives of 160,000 plus people over two nights. My being there, I thought, had some…