Courtney McGrailDear Editor, In 2017 or 2018, we can expect to have a referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (or the rights of the unborn). While there is an opinion that abortion is acceptable in exceptional circumstances, the questions foremost in my mind must be the following: Why is it an indictable offence…
Category: Opinion
The sums don’t add up
Dear Editor, Like many, I see no theoretical reason for celibacy in the case of secular priests. However, given the low salaries paid, how are the costs of a priest’s wife and family to be met let alone the problem of increasing the scale of property owned by the diocese or parish in order to…
Our churches as sanctuaries
Fr Ronald RolheiserWhenever we have been at our best, as Christians, we have opened our churches as sanctuaries to the poor and the endangered. We have a long, proud history wherein refugees, homeless persons, immigrants facing deportation, and others who are endangered, take shelter inside our churches. If we believe what Jesus tells us about the Last…
In praise of books at Christmas
Fr Conor McDonough OP In the far-east of Switzerland – la Suisse orientale, as the French speakers in the West charmingly call it – lies a town bearing the name of an Irish saint: St Gallen, a disciple of Ireland’s single greatest contribution to Europe, St Columbanus. The abbey that gave the town its name…
Bringing the Gospel to the marketplace this Advent
Michael Kelly“Jesus didn’t spend his time sitting around in the Temple or teaching in the Synagogue”, writes Michael Kelly
Sadly, cosy consensus is pushing people into hands of extremists
“It’s hard not to have the impression that the move is really designed to crush dissenting voices”, writes Michael Kelly
Mistaken view of ‘modernity’ discourages breast-feeding, not the Catholic Church
Mary KennyMary Kenny defends the Catholic Church against accusations it has contributed to the fall of breast-feeding in Ireland
Ireland is not immune from the wave of dissatisfaction
Dr Martin Mansergh“A more united Government would provide reassurance”, writes Martin Mansergh
Catholic schools deserved to be respected as genuine partners in reform
Attempts to blame the Church for the death of a new religious education curriculum are wide of the mark, writes Prof. Eamonn Conway
Syrian Christians must choose between several evils
David Quinn“Christians here in Ireland need to ask ourselves what we would do if we were in Syria”, writes David Quinn