David QuinnCondoning assisted suicide would be disastrous pastoral practice, writes David Quinn
Category: Opinion
How closely do we watch one another?
Courtney McGrailDear Editor, I could not help but applaud Bishop Kevin Doran’s words in support of Pope Francis against those critics who claim the Holy Father is spreading confusion. His explanation that the Pope is trying to get people to understand that we cannot set ourselves up as the consciences of others struck me as very…
Bishop’s intervention is encouraging
Dear Editor, Bishop Kevin Doran’s intervention in support of Pope Francis over Amoris Laetitia (IC 15/12/2016) is encouraging, and surely to be welcomed by all parties, especially given how it would take particular effort to claim the bishop lacks either intelligence or orthodoxy. Ever since the synod process began in 2014, a vociferous online fringe…
A little something for the ‘ideas’ file
Dear Editor, Fr Conor McDonough’s column of December 15 – ‘In praise of books at Christmas’ – reminded me of an older notebook in your paper where one Maolsheachlann O’Ceallaigh wondered about what middle ground there is between, say, introductory books on St Thomas Aquinas and scholarly articles on the Angelic Doctor (‘Beyond Catholicism 101’…
Common sense from Bishop on Brexit
Dear Editor, Derry’s Bishop Donal McKeown seems to be showing far more common sense on Brexit’s reality (‘New Brexit report on Ireland asks crucial questions – Derry bishop’ IC 15/12/2016) than do Britain’s parliamentary members and lords. In welcoming the Lords’ report on Brexit’s possible impacts on Northern Ireland, the bishop rightly says he is…
Don’t give up
Dear Editor, I was pleasantly surprised to read in your paper of December 15 that almost 40% of people in the Republic of Ireland plan to see Pope Francis when he visits Ireland. With curiosity likely to increase over the next two years, I would expect the 11% who are undecided to come to think…
‘Outrageous’ call was correct
Dear Editor, No doubt there will be some think Bishop McAreavey over the top in describing as “outrageous” the Dáil’s failure to condemn as genocide the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, but I am not among them. The bishop is absolutely right to call the scope of the Dáil motion on the activities…
Incarnation – God is with us
Fr Ronald RolheiserFor many of us, I suspect, it gets harder each year to capture the mood of Christmas. About the only thing that still warms our hearts are memories, memories of younger, more naïve, days when the lights and carols, Christmas trees and gifts, still excited us. But we’re adult now and so too, it seems,…
The People that walked in darkness has seen a great light’
The English Sculptor, Henry Moore is unique because in his work what appears essential is left out; the light is let in…In his work the light always wins. Of all the symbols of this Christmas Season, light is probably the most evocative. The story of how light triumphs over darkness has so much to do…
A question of Constitutional rights
Dear 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…