An artificial human reproduction law is the Government’s latest attack on children’s rights, writes David Quinn With almost no public – or indeed political – scrutiny, a law intended to regulate the practice of Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) is currently before the Oireachtas. It is being considered at the moment by the Health Committee.…
The View Trust is much easier to maintain than to re-establish after it has been lost. The scandals engulfing Oxfam illustrate this clearly. Serious allegations have been made regarding Oxfam personnel making use of women in prostitution during an aid operation in earthquake-hit Haiti. Worse, allegations appear to involve not just women working as…
Fr Paddy Byrne One of the fundamental tasks given to every Christian is to spread the Good News. In our Catholic tradition, this task has been extremely well-served for centuries. Communication is key to the life and mission of our Church. I know too ‘actions speak louder than words’ –actions of kindness, compassion, inclusion…
Fr Éamonn Fitzgibbon It is just 12 months since the Government launched ‘Realising our Rural Potential: The Action Plan for Rural Development’. This Plan generated hope and optimism in many rural communities as it outlined 270 actions to support rural Ireland. However, much of this positivity has been dented by the recently launched National Planning Framework…
There is a growing concern that young people are just sliding into the sacrament, writes Susan Gately Wexford-based Fr Paddy Banville attracted publicity recently after calling a public meeting to address the issue of the forthcoming Confirmation ceremony in the parish. When the students enrolled for the Sacrament, Fr Banville, the administrator of the…
Letter from Rome As President John F. Kennedy famously said after the Bay of Pigs disaster in 1961, more or less paraphrasing Tacitus, “victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan”. The odd thing from a media point of view is that it’s often precisely the opposite way around – failure is…
The European Union has become too focused on narrow economic goals, writes Ben Ryan I’ve finally found common ground with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. I can finally come out in public as someone who also likes to think of the EU as a “teleological construction”. Of course, Johnson is learning, as I’ve long experienced,…
Writing in the first person is always a risk, but the subject matter of this column is best done, I feel, through personal testimony. In a world where chastity and celibacy are seen as naïve and to be pitied and where there’s a general scepticism that anyone is actually living them out, personal testimony is…
The Notebook It’s often noted that St John Paul II canonised more saints than all of his predecessors combined, but too often forgotten is that on the February day five years ago when he announced his resignation, Pope Benedict XVI authorised the canonisation of more saints than his Polish predecessor had ever done. The…
Dear Editor, I find it very uplifting that the 70th formally recognised miraculous cure in Lourdes has been announced (IC 15/02/18). It highlights the sacred nature of the place, and how God works mysteriously in the world. I think it’s a real shame that in our modern age people often reduce the supernatural down to…
David Quinn
Breda O'Brien
Susan Gately
John L. Allen Jr.
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Greg Daly