One of the country’s large general hospitals recently made a small but very significant change. It renamed all of its wards. Previously the wards had saints’ names: ‘St Michael’s Ward’, ‘St Brigid’s Ward’, etc. Such names were commonplace in many hospitals around Ireland and I suppose the practice of naming wards – and indeed whole…
Category: Opinion
Facing the reality of the changing face of Irish Catholicism
“A new type of Church – more lay-led – will have to emerge”, writes Michael Kelly Archbishop Eamon Martin recently said that priests and bishops need to get used to “letting go” of the central role in parish communities if faith is to be re-energised. In many ways, it’s not an issue of choice: declining…
Abuse of poor contrary to Catholic teaching
Dear Editor, Thank you so much for your article ‘Children of the Famine’ (IC 23/03/2017) about the mindset that sustained the networks of social control independent Ireland inherited and developed from the British. Too often commentators act as though our clergy and religious were Vatican shock troops parachuted into Ireland, despite these supposed agents of…
What are we to make of all this ‘gender-bending’?
“I hear certain sarky remarks about this being “a new definition of having it all”, writes Mary Kenny There was a young woman of my acquaintance who, a couple of years ago, disappeared from view, and then returned as a male, having had a sex change operation. She was always a boyish kind of girl,…
It takes courage to stand up, but we need courageous witness now more than ever
Congratulations to Katie Ascough on becoming president of UCD’s student union. It is a great victory, not least because she made no secret of her pro-life views or that she is a person of faith. It gives great hope to other students and young people in general, that Ireland does not always have to be…
Weighing up our common response to immigration
Immigration policies must recognise the needs of both immigrants and their host countries, writes David Quinn Last Sunday, hundreds of churches rang out their bells in solidarity with refugees and migrants and in protest against racism and xenophobia. The initiative was the brainchild of Church of Ireland Dean of Waterford Reverend Maria Jansson. It was…
Martin McGuinness – a leader and peacemaker
Fr Joe McVeigh He did more than most to take the gun out of Irish politics, writes Fr Joe McVeigh Martin McGuinness will be forever remembered for his key role in building the peace after almost 30 years of violent conflict, when many had almost despaired of ever finding a peaceful way forward. He will…
Let’s hope his achievements will influence those who come after him
Martin McGuinness – the man I navigated the road to the peace process with Martin McGuinness was a tough paramilitary leader who became a statesman. It required a lot of intelligence, courage, skill and tenacity to recognise around 1990 that armed struggle, and even the twin armalite and ballot box strategy, had reached a dead…
Redoubling efforts for peace a ‘fitting legacy’ – Archbishop Eamon Martin
A fitting legacy for Martin McGuinness would be a redoubling of efforts on all sides to find solutions to “our current problems” according to the Primate of All Ireland. Archbishop Eamon Martin paid tribute to Mr McGuinness as “someone who chose personally to leave behind the path of violence and to walk instead along the…
Children of the Famine
Greg Daly explores the historical roots of the mentality that created Tuam’s Mother and Baby Home History and commemoration are, as President Higgins observed in a speech in Dublin’s Mansion House almost exactly a year ago, different things. Commemoration, he noted, is typically mediated through present-day concerns, and stands always in danger of being exploited…