We should approach politics with an informed Catholic conscience, writes David Quinn I was speaking recently to a canvasser for one of the former Fine Gael TDs who was expelled from the party for voting against the 2013 abortion law. The canvasser told me that his candidate had been berated outside Mass by one or…
Matt Dempsey Pope Francis is perceptive in calling for sustainable and diversified agriculture, writes Matt Dempsey The 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ from Pope Francis on the care of our common home shows a man and a Pope that is visibly in touch with modern scientific, environmental and social issues. I probably should not have been…
Politicians need to address issues around our ageing society, writes Finola Kennedy Finola Kennedy The final comment of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry went largely unreported. He referred to the difficulty of providing resources for “the ageing of Irish society”. He went on to say: “I hope the issue isn’t lost.”…
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…
The Church teaches that Confession to a priest is an essential part of the Sacrament of Penance, writes Cathal Barry The Church teaches that penance requires the sinner to “endure all things willingly, be contrite of heart, confess with the lips, and practice complete humility and fruitful satisfaction” Among the penitent’s acts contrition occupies first…
A colleague of mine shares this story: recently, after presiding a Eucharist, a woman from the congregation came up to him with this comment: “What a horrible scripture reading today! If that’s the kind of God we’re worshipping, then I don’t want to go to Heaven!” The reading for that day’s liturgy was taken from…
“the God who calls is the God who loves, who forgives, the God who sees into our hearts and gently but very definitely coaxes us to be the very best person we can be”, writes Fr Martin Delaney Recently I returned to my home parish for the funeral of one of my neighbours, a Kiltegan…
Dear Editor, I am so fed up of hearing people say the Catholic Church needs to get their hands off ‘our schools’, as if the Church has stolen the schools in some sinister way. The Church owns the schools because it built them, or to be more precise the Catholics of the parish built them…
David Quinn
Paul Keenan
Cathal Barry
Fr Ronald Rolheiser