Dr Ruth Cullen Many issues are troubling voters, but ultimately no issue is more important than protecting life. We cannot talk about care, compassion and respect for life and then in the same breath single out a particular category of human beings and say they are unworthy of any legal protection. Each human being regardless…
“We should not forget the quiet but vibrant faith which still remains”, writes Andrew O’Connell Three simple stories taught me something of the mission of people of faith in Ireland today. Firstly, I was walking past a church in Dublin last week and, instinctively, blessed myself. A young woman walking against me noticed and, looking mildly…
The long term integration challenge for a new Government is to build on goodwill, writes Eugene Quinn Ireland has long cherished itself as the ‘land of the thousand welcomes’. Yet the arrival of thousands of asylum seekers, refugees and forced migrant tests that principle in practice. In 2015 more than 3,000 people sought asylum in…
Fr Seán Healy General Election 2016 comes at a critical moment for Ireland. Decisions made in the next Dáil will have major impacts on Irish people and shape the future for a considerable time to come. Whether or not the decisions of the next Government produce a just and sustainable future depends on those elected…
The public should make prostitution and sex trafficking ‘doorstep issues’ in the upcoming election, writes Sarah Benson Since its foundation, Ruhama has supported thousands of women affected by prostitution and sex trafficking in Ireland. Every day in our work we see first-hand the harm that sexual exploitation does to women and girls. We support women…
Fr Donal Dorr Pope Francis, in his encyclical letter on the environment, Laudato Si’, makes a passionate appeal to us to protect the fragile Earth and the poorest of people. He warns us that our call to be protectors of God’s creation “is not an optional or a secondary aspect of Christian faith”. He says…
Dr Tom Finegan Catholic social and moral teaching affirms the central importance of marriage for both individual persons and wider society as the bedrock upon which society is built. Catholic social and moral teaching further affirms the duty of governments to protect and promote marriage and family life through law and policy. A general election…
Luca Attanasio It was 1984. In the aftermath of the terrible news report by the BBC on the effects of famine in Ethiopia, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure quickly brought together the top bands of the time and recorded the famous song Do They Know it’s Christmas. They raised a lot of money and international…
The Latin American Pope faces a testing visit, writes Paul Keenan There could hardly have been a more diabolical challenge to the upcoming visit of Pope Francis to Mexico than the January 29 murder of baby Marcos Miguel Pano Colón. In a single violent incident among the many thousands perpetrated by the country’s drugs cartels…
Dear Editor, Election 2016 is probably the most important the country has faced since the foundation of the State. In all previous elections we voted for the party or candidate who we believed would do the best for the country. This time the choice will be to vote for who will do the least damage…
Paul Keenan