There’s an interesting link between Brexit and Michael Collins. In planning its withdrawal from the European Union, Britain is dusting down the old documents of procedures followed when Ireland – the 26 counties of the Irish Free State – left the United Kingdom in 1922-23, as a template of how it was done. As we…
Category: Opinion
‘You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown’
The Pope’s representative Archbishop Charles Brown left Ireland this week to take up his new posting in Albania. Soon, a replacement will be appointed and a new archbishop will come to present his credentials to President Michael D. Higgins and act as a visible sign of unity between the Church in Ireland and the Holy…
Nuncio proved himself as a ‘can-do’priest
Albania is a regional Church that Archbishop Brown gets to sculpt When it was announced that our Papal Nuncio was being dispatched to Albania, there was shock that firstly the nuncio was leaving after only five years and secondly, Albania! Some in Church circles saw Machiavellian motivations behind the appointment by the Vatican. There is…
It takes courage to stand up, but we need courageous witness now more than ever
Congratulations to Katie Ascough on becoming president of UCD’s student union. It is a great victory, not least because she made no secret of her pro-life views or that she is a person of faith. It gives great hope to other students and young people in general, that Ireland does not always have to be…
Privatising faith impoverishes society
The voice of faith or religion is not simply for the privacy of our homes and churches, writes Archbishop Eamon Martin We do not enter the public square simply to win arguments through the clever use of reasoning and debate. When we speak, we draw upon both reason and faith and upon an integral vision…
Funding a softening-up campaign
Greg Daly wonders why the ethics watchdog has sanctioned just one pro-abortion group That an organisation calling itself the Abortion Rights Campaign (ARC) should ever have denied that it was engaged in political activities seems, on the face of it, absurd, and it is hardly surprising that it was ultimately forced to face this reality.…
Let’s hope new Nuncio will reach out to the young
Niall Guinan Archbishop Charles Brown was an encouraging presence in Ireland, particularly for young people, writes Niall Guinan The 37th chapter of Ezekiel contains the famous description of the prophet placed in a “valley of dry bones,” a scene of total despair and desolation. There could hardly be a more fitting image for the environment…
Rome summit marks launch of ‘African Catholicism 2.0’
In the classic film The Princess Bride, the Inigo Montoya character late in the movie is faced with the challenge of recounting the storyline up to that point. He says, “Let me ‘splain…No, there is too much. Let me sum up.” I’ve got a similar sensation in the wake of a March 22-25 summit of…
Abuse of poor contrary to Catholic teaching
Dear Editor, Thank you so much for your article ‘Children of the Famine’ (IC 23/03/2017) about the mindset that sustained the networks of social control independent Ireland inherited and developed from the British. Too often commentators act as though our clergy and religious were Vatican shock troops parachuted into Ireland, despite these supposed agents of…
Committing violence in God’s name
Blaise Pascal once wrote: “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.” How true; this has been going on since the beginning of time and is showing few signs of disappearing any time soon. We still do violence and evil and justify them in God’s name.…

Mary Kenny
Michael Kelly

Breda O'Brien
Archbishop Eamon Martin
Greg Daly

John L. Allen Jr.

Fr Ronald Rolheiser