I had the wedding from hell this month — or maybe more correctly the bridal couple who seemed to have been spawned there. It is probably my fault, my misunderstanding: I thought that in giving the couple oodles of time to share their story with me, I was building rapport with them, but in fact…
The Church needs to offer clearer guidance on when priests should refuse Catholic politicians and others Communion, a leading moral theologian has said. Dr John Murray of Dublin City University was speaking after a priest in the UK refused Communion to Liberal Democrat MP Chris Coghlan, who voted in favour of a bill in the…
My friend’s son worked for a while as a tour guide in the Titanic Quarter of Belfast. Two Americans got off the bus in the dockland area and were quite perplexed: “But where is the Titanic?” they wanted to know. They were genuinely shocked to hear it had sunk. The Titanic looms large in Belfast,…
The week before last, I made a pilgrimage to Rome with my husband and children, in the company of two other families. Shepherding 22 children around the streets of the eternal city in 35-degree heat was a challenge not for the faint-hearted. Despite some disappointments (we didn’t get very close to the Pope), and setbacks…
The crowds poured out of the trains arriving in Dublin last Saturday, evidently making for the ‘Gay Pride’ march in the capital. The rainbow colours were everywhere, and costumes ranged from the exotic to the unremarkable, and in age from tots to grannies. The atmosphere reminded me that there is a kind of joyfulness in…
Unless you were hiding under a rock recently, you will at least have seen some of the images from the wedding of former TV presenter, Lauren Sanchez, to Jeff Bezos, the founder and head of Amazon and the world’s richest, or second richest man, depending on how these things are calculated. The wedding took over…
The Tuam Mother and Baby Home’s reporting needs balance Dear Editor, that was a very welcome article on Tuam Mother and Baby Home (The Irish Catholic, June 19). To date there has been mostly hostile overage and certainly no balance. You mentioned Brian Nugent, who has written, among other articles, a book on the Tuam…
I’ve been taking part in the annual conference of the Council for European Studies (CES) at Temple University, Philadelphia, June 25-27. The theme this year is ‘Legacies and Ruptures: Making Sense of Europe’ and within that there’s a special focus on the transatlantic relationship. I gave a presentation on Day 1 entitled, ‘An Ocean Apart:…
Two dreadful votes happened in the House of Commons in Britain last week. The Bills a majority of MPs voted in favour of must now go to the House of Lords. If that hurdle is cleared, the first Bill will mean that women in England and Wales will be able to abort their babies at…
Candles still flicker in Bethlehem, prayers are still whispered in Nablus, and weary hearts still dare to hope that peace might yet come to this land, writes Justin Robinson OSB In searching for words that capture the spirit of our times, many in the Middle East turn to a line by Antonio Gramsci that feels as…
Martina Purdy
Maria Steen
Mary Kenny
David Quinn