Spirituality There’s a line in the writings of Julian of Norwich, the famous 14th-Century mystic and perhaps the first theologian to write in English, which is endlessly quoted by preachers, poets and writers: “but all shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well”. It’s her signature…
RTÉ presenter Ryan Tubridy announced on Friday on his morning radio programme that he didn’t know any couples who attend Mass. Apart from the obvious question as to how Mr Tubridy would know whether or not his friends go to Mass unless he has asked them all, at face value it’s an astonishingly revealing claim.…
Dear Editor, The news that Fr Patrick Peyton, the famous ‘Rosary Priest’, is now firmly on the path to sainthood is one that will have gladdened many hearts, but perhaps a greater blessing is the prospect of this renewing Rosary devotion in Ireland. Fr Peyton was, of course, a product of a different time, a…
The Notebook Fr Conor McDonough In the early 1990s, Lu Nan, a Chinese photographer, shot a series of black and white photographs documenting the life of a tiny community of Catholic villagers in Shaanxi. They are all stunning images, and easily found online, but what really stands out for me are the images showing…
It is inevitable that in 2018 there will be much public discourse on the subject of Humanae Vitae – it being the fiftieth anniversary, in July this year, of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical (‘Of Human Life’). After two papal commissions, and many committees of experts, Paul VI reaffirmed the Church’s traditional teaching against artificial contraception…
The View On the day the Oireachtas Committee considering the Eighth Amendment recommended to the government to hold a referendum to legalise abortion in this country, a miraculous news story appeared across the water in Britain. Vanellope Hope Wilkins was born a month premature with a condition that had caused doctors to advise her…
David Quinn casts his eagle eye over who was hot and who was not in the secular world In the run-up to Christmas, Pope Francis noted that out of a sense of “false respect” for non-Christians we are airbrushing Christ and Christianity from the festival. The Pope said: “In the name of a false…
Taste is subjective. Keep that in mind as I share with you the 10 books that most touched me last year. That isn’t necessarily a recommendation that you read them. They may leave you cold, or angry at me that I praised them. Be your own critic here and one who isn’t afraid to be…
The issue of religious freedom will continue to be a major feature in public debate in the year ahead. Central to the discussion is the extent to which people ought to be free when there are what appear to be conflicting and competing rights. For example, where there is a legal right for a same-sex…
The Notebook Fr Bernard Healy The release of an animated movie called The Star caught my attention. The premise of the film – an imaginative telling of the Nativity focusing on the donkey and his animal companions reminded me that we have a plethora of traditions about various animals associated with the Christmas story.…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny
Maria Steen
David Quinn