Woodstock wasn’t all peace and light, writes David Quinn It’s now 50 years since the high point of the 1960s counter-culture, namely the huge music festival that took place at Woodstock in New York state in mid-August 1969. It featured some of the biggest music acts of the day. Organisers originally estimated it would…
‘Bad companions’ – how often did I hear that expression in my schooldays. Warnings came from many quarters, including our catechism text, that ‘bad companions’ could lead us astray. Parents and guardians were often on the lookout for ‘bad companions’. I was discouraged from a friendship with a girl a couple of years older because…
Letter from Scotland A motion to remove the voting rights of religious representatives on education boards is “a serious threat to the identity” of Catholic schools in the Scottish capital, according to a spokesperson of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh. Scottish law mandates that three religious representatives serve on each school board.…
Sri Lanka’s top Catholic has called for an independent inquiry into a series of bombings that shook the country on Easter Sunday, saying investigations conducted until now have been swayed by political interests. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, said that for Sri Lankans, a parliamentary probe into the attacks “is biased because it…
Imagine this: a man, entirely careless of all moral and spiritual affairs, lives his life in utter selfishness, pleasure his only pursuit. He lives the high life, never prays, never goes to church, has numerous sexual affairs, and has no concern for anyone but himself. After a long life of this, he’s diagnosed with a…
Notebook I was at a social event recently with some high-powered academics. I mentioned at a certain point that a lot of my research and teaching centres on the theology of St Thomas Aquinas, and half the group gave me a blank look: “Who?” I’m sure the readers of The Irish Catholic don’t need…
Dear Editor, Last week, thousands of school children across Ireland received Leaving Cert results and for those up North, A-Level results. The years leading up to this moment were filled with stress, tears and feelings of uselessness. There is so much pressure on kids to achieve top grades, so-much-so that many use them as metric…
I had my first hip replacement surgery when I was in my 40s – the youngest person in the hospital to have had that particular operation. It arose from a congenital joint defect I’d been born with, but had gone undetected, except for an increasing limp through my adult years. I was warned that a second…
I have a confession to make: I once voted for Fine Gael. There, I said it. It is a long time since I have seen the error of my ways, but the events of the past week provide yet another depressing reminder of that party’s insistence upon stifling conformity. The President of Young Fine Gael (YFG),…
Liberal Ireland is working hard to find enemies, writes John McGuirk Something happened last week that was extraordinary, but before I talk about it, it is necessary to remind ourselves of a few things about the country that we live in. Let us start with the fact that four short years ago, Ireland became…
David Quinn
Mary Kenny
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Maria Steen