Dear Editor, I write to commend The Irish Catholic on its recent front page story regarding this year’s Mass to commemorate the sacrifice of those who fought during the 1916 Easter Rising (1916 families appeal for Mass ban to be lifted, IC 1/5/14). I was shocked to hear that the families of those who fought…
Category: Opinion
Celebrating Mother’s Day
Mother’s show how life is not about the self.
Exemplary Christian lives
Dear Editor, I write in response to Syl Doyne’s letter (IC 8/5/14 edition) where questions were posed concerning sainthood. Firstly, there have actually been a large number of lay people canonised or currently en route to being canonised e.g. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, St Gianna Molla (wife, mother and medical doctor), and Blessed Chiara Badano,…
Canonisations raise questions
Dear Editor, It was a great weekend for the Catholic Church as two of our Popes were elevated to the position of sainthood, but I have two questions. One: why is it mostly religious who are honoured in this way, and also why is it necessary at all? If I manage to get to Heaven…
A pilgrimage of a very different kind
A journey through nature, desire, and soul
Confidentiality and Children First
Dear Editor, Frances Fitzgerald introduced the Children First Bill in the Dáil on Wednesday, April 30. This highlights again the fact that it envisages that there has to be no exceptions to it and that it will be a ‘catch-all’ operation imposed on all organisations in the field of ‘helping’ organisations. A close reading of…
Is Hell really real?
When Archbishop Diarmuid Martin appeared on Today with Sean O’Rourke last week, O’Rourke asked him whether or not he believed in Hell. The context for the question was a recent warning by Pope Francis to the Mafia that unless they changed their ways they were in danger of going to Hell. Archbishop Martin answered: “I…
Remembering wartime chaplains
Dear Editor, As historical events to commemorate the slaughter of World War I receive increasing coverage this centenary year, I am prompted to recall Mary Kenny’s article in these pages in February recounting the ministry of Fr Francis Gleeson to men of the Munster Rifles. In that article, she relates the courageous priest’s setting aside…
Catholic faith doesn’t obligate us to disregard proven science
The denial of evolution seems preposterous
The electorate must not be fooled by hypocrisy
Dear Editor, I am sure many people are taken aback at the hypocrisy of Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, in inviting Pope Francis to Ireland, after this Government’s disgraceful treatment of relations with the Vatican. Firstly, we had his tirade based on misquoting Pope Benedict, the reference to a law not even in place and, as pointed out…