Our society tends to divide us up into winners and losers. Sadly, we don’t often reflect on how this affects our relationships with each other, nor on what it means for us as Christians. What does it mean? In essence, that our relationships with each other tend are too-charged with competition and jealousy because we…
Category: Opinion
Shining a light on ordinary parish life
Bro. Conor McDonough Picture the scene: a mid-20th-Century crowd of Irish emigrants in a newsagent’s after Mass. They all rush to buy the ‘Irish papers’ to find out what the important people in Dublin are doing and how the metropolis views the provinces. Then in walks a Monaghan eccentric. He has notions, so maybe he’s…
Neutrality – a foreign policy which has served us well
Neutrality in Ireland is a morally charged concept, both for supporters and critics. For supporters, it is a principled stance to avoid becoming embroiled in armed conflict and military alliances and to support the peaceful resolution of disputes. For critics, it is an evasion of responsibility and taking a free ride behind serious defence measures…
Solutions to ‘nightmare’ of Roman Missal translation
Dear Editor, Like Fr Tom Whelan (‘Fresh Mass translation ‘a long shot’’ IC 02/02/2017), I agree that the “pragmatics of administrators will win out,” when it comes to the future of the largely unloved 2011 translation of the Roman Missal. Its turgid prose, erratic use of capital letters and badly designed presentation of prayers in…
The truth will out
“Those misguided individuals who thought they were protecting the Church actually brought it to its knees”, writes Michael Kelly In the devastating report on the handling of abuse allegations against priests in the Dublin archdiocese, Judge Yvonne Murphy identified a clear pattern. The avoidance of scandal and the protection of the reputation of the Church…
An attitude of moral superiority
“We’re all free to hold any political opinion that we like, and to express that opinion”, writes Mary Kenny A young relation of mine in Germany was in touch with me last week saying how much everyone, it seems, in that country really, really dislikes Donald Trump. Although he is no fan of Mr T,…
‘Reproductive health’ is one of those odious Orwellian euphemisms
“It would be more accurate to speak of promotion of the right to cause death”, writes Breda O’Brien The idea that you can gather 100 people together over a number of weekends and that they will come to independent conclusions that are better than those arrived at by elected representatives is an interesting one. It…
Schooling the Oireachtas on the ‘baptism barrier’
Seamus Mulconry CPSMA general secretary Seamus Mulconry addressed the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills about the Equal Status (Admissions to Schools) Bill 2016 No Catholic school wishes to exclude any child from the benefits of a Catholic education. In almost 95% of our schools, we take everyone who applies. Our schools are welcoming and…
It’s time for Richard Bruton to acknowledge the important role of faith schools in society
In respect of denominational schools, Education Minister, Richard Bruton is following in the path of his two immediate Labour predecessors, Jan O’Sullivan and Ruairi Quinn. That is to say, he is investigating ways of reducing the influence of the Churches over our education system, especially at primary school level. That influence, it should be said…
Pope taps delegate to study ‘pastoral situation’ at Medjugorje
Inés San Martín On February 11, Pope Francis sent an envoy to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina, not to rule on the credibility of the alleged Marian apparitions taking place at the site since 1981, but to assist with pastoral issues. Speaking to Crux, a source close to the matter said that Archbishop Henryk Hoser of Warsaw-Prague, Poland,…