Ireland still does not want a normal relationship with the Church, writes David Quinn Hostile or negative headlines ahead of the Pope’s visit to Ireland next week have been mounting. The Irish Times ran three in the space of five days. One concerned a fear that homeless people will be ejected from emergency accommodation…
Thomas Aquinas once suggested that it’s a sin to not give a compliment to someone when it’s deserved because by withholding our praise we’re depriving that person of the food that he or she needs to live on. He’s right. Perhaps it’s not a sin to withhold a compliment but it’s a sad impoverishment, both…
Dear Editor, Breda O’Brien and Greg Daly’s articles on Pope Francis’ ruling that henceforth Catholics should regard the death penalty as ‘inadmissible’ (IC 9/8/2018) show just how natural a development this is in Catholic teaching, and show too how absurd it is that a handful of vociferous Catholics are complaining about this. Absurd? What other…
The Notebook Fr Vincent Sherlock I met him in a hotel in Rome. “What do you think of Rome?” I asked him. “I don’t like it,” he replied, “it’s too hot and I find it hard to get used to the food”.w He told me he was there because his daughter was getting married…
Sometimes you’d be forgiven for thinking that there is nothing to celebrate in being Catholic and Irish in modern Ireland. Hostility towards the Church is extremely high and truth be told it was always going to intensify in the run up to the visit of Pope Francis and the World Meeting of Families. A poll…
Back in the 1960s, Clive James, novelist, memoirist, poet, TV performer and critic and all-round hilarious Australian lad, memorably said: “Of course I’m in favour of the [contraceptive] pill. It puts more crumpet on the market.” Clive didn’t say “I’m in favour of the contraceptive pill because it could help maternal health”…or “…because it empowers…
The View During St John Paul’s pontificate, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) was amended regarding the death penalty. Capital punishment was hedged about with so many conditions that the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity were considered to be “very rare, if not practically non-existent”. In…
“Please just make it stop!” tweeted Health Minister Simon Harris on Sunday last in connection with a report on a conference on Humanae Vitae at the weekend. “Increasing access to & availability of contraception is and will remain public health policy. Religion plays an important role for many on an individual basis – but it…
The Pope’s’ decreeing capital punishment ‘inadmissible’ follows in papal footsteps, writes Greg Daly There’s change and there’s change. To listen to some of the more feverish reactions to news last week of Pope Francis’ decision to change the Church’s teaching on the death penalty, one might think that change means one thing and one…
The Government seems determined to bar religion from public life, writes David Quinn We live in truly extraordinary times. A conference on Humanae Vitae is addressed by a bishop and there is an immediate negative response on social media from no less a figure than our Health Minister, Simon Harris, who tweets, “Please just…
David Quinn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny
Breda O'Brien
Greg Daly