Each year, I write a column sharing with readers the title and a brief synopsis of the 10 books that touched me most that year. Occasionally, however, I judge a book to be exceptional enough to merit its own column. Robert Ellsberg’s new book, A Living Gospel – Reading God’s Story in Holy Lives, is…
Dear Editor, The commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the D-day landings was important not only to remind us of the courage and sacrifice of the previous generation in fighting the evils of Nazism but also to remind us that contending with evil now falls to this generation. There is always something that needs to…
The Notebook Many years ago, my friends Monica Brown and Hilary Musgrave introduced me to the whole experience of sacred clowning. Hilary and Monica lead retreats all over the world and the sacred clown ‘Naofa’ is an integral part of their unique approach to spirituality. Sacred clowning has to be experienced because trying to…
Ireland’s abortion regime makes visible pro-life campaigning all the more vital, writes Niamh Uí Bhriain Voter regret in regard to the abortion referendum is real and it is growing. Every month seems to bring a new and more shocking revelation about Simon Harris’s new abortion regime, and in response come increasing numbers of people…
The View Martin Mansergh Pope Francis’ approval of the Italian bishops’ decision to render more precise the passage in the Lord’s Prayer in Italian that is the equivalent of, but perhaps not precisely the same as ‘lead us not into temptation’ was news here, in the sense that it came as a surprise to most…
Imagine a scenario in which it came to be known that cars with defective seat belts had been allowed on to the market. Now imagine that this information on the increased risk of passenger fatalities was known to government and all the major political parties prior to the sale of the cars, but they failed…
Claims that Ireland was repressed in the 1980s are absurd, writes David Quinn ‘Why were we so hateful?’, the editorial in the Irish Examiner asked of Irish people living in the 1980s. A feature last weekend in the Irish Independent described the same decade as “traumatising” for women. The 1980s is in the spotlight…
Parents are morally obliged to vaccinate their children, writes Colm Fitzpatrick With the recent spate of measles outbreaks across Ireland, questions have been raised about what role both parents and government play in preventing the spread of infectious illnesses. Vaccinations, of course, seem to be the obvious solution as they provide immunity to the…
A new Vatican document invites important questions about dialogue and understanding, writes Kevin O’Higgins SJ This month, the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education issued a document, ‘Male and Female He Created Them: Towards a Path of Dialogue On the Question of Gender Theory in Education’. While the focus is on gender theory in relation…
Letter from Rome Inés San Martín Pope Francis visited the southern Italian city of Naples last Friday, participating in a theology congress dedicated to interreligious dialogue and migration in the context of the Mediterranean Sea. The Argentine Pontiff revisited some of his core concepts, calling for theologians to be an expression of a Church…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
David Quinn
Colm Fitzpatrick