“Within the Church people often feel vulnerable and feel forced to hide behind the cloak of anonymity”, writes Editor Michael Kelly
Category: Opinion
Queen Elizabeth is a surprising ecumenist
“Elizabeth has achieved a form of ecumenism simply by faithfully adhering to her own Christian faith”, writes Mary Kenny
UN abortion ruling given undeserved credence
Government only taking ruling seriously because it adds weight to demands for repeal of the Eighth Amendment, writes David Quinn
With abortion, empathy and ethics are not synonymous
Dear Editor, A few years ago a priest friend, while on holiday from England, was one of the concelebrants of a funeral Mass for John, who had Down Syndrome. Many of the deceased’s friends and colleagues from the Old Monastery Day Centre, Killarney attended the Mass and gave public expression to their loyalty and deep…
More reader-friendly statistics and charts needed
Dear Editor, Compliments on your very informative feature on “Catholicism in England and Wales” (IC 02/06/2016). You won’t mind, I’m sure, if I suggest ways in which an article like this so heavily dependent on statistics could be made more reader-friendly in the future. The verbal and the visual are not brought together in any…
Cork Minister of the Word entitled to reservations on Eighth Amendment
Dear Editor, I find the letter of Mary Stewart in condemnation of Ken Curtin appalling and completely over the top. Surely the man is entitled to have reservations on the Eighth Amendment without been demonised and accused of condoning murder. I also have reservations on the Eighth Amendment and back in 1983 voted against its…
Horrified Catholic schools would allow in Amnesty
Dear Editor, I am absolutely horrified at the headline in The Irish Catholic (09/06/2016) ‘Pressure on Catholic schools to ban Amnesty International’. It beggars belief that Catholic schools would allow Amnesty address their pupils with their promotion of the killing of babies in the womb. It was hardly too much to expect that, when Amnesty…
Looking forward to Pope Francis’ take on the Reformation
Dear Editor, Pope Francis is to take part in an ecumenical service on October 31 this year in Sweden. This is Reformation Day and this year it will begin a year-long commemoration of the 500th anniversary of when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the castle church door at Wittenberg. This was to lead to the…
Sacramentals
The Church teaches that certain blessings have a lasting importance, writes Cathal Barry
The struggle to love our neighbour
“The most damaging idolatry is not the golden calf but enmity against the other.” The renowned anthropologist, Rene Girard, wrote that and its truth is not easily admitted. Most of us like to believe that we are mature and big-hearted and that we do love our neighbours and are free of enmity towards others. But…

Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny
David Quinn

Cathal Barry
Fr Ronald Rolheiser