Dear Editor, As we approach next month’s Synod of Bishops on the family, one needs to be careful which side one chooses to take in all this. In relation to the Kasper proposal, Cardinal Kasper and others are putting forward a proposal for changes to allow divorced and ‘remarried’ Catholics to receive Holy Communion and…
Category: Opinion
‘Just a little’ is going in wrong direction
Dear Editor, The news that there is an increase in the sale of abortion pills in Ireland was followed immediately by yet another demand for widening the provisions for legalised abortion here. Unfortunately, however, just as with the GAA and the amateur status, we cannot have ‘a little’ payment of players; and no country has…
Resettlement not displacement was the driver
Dear Editor, Mary Kenny seems at sea with the details of the displacement of Germans from eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War and its aftermath (IC 17/9/15). Whereas many Germans and people of other nationalities fled red army advances towards the war’s end and immediately afterwards, the Allies decided to resettle…
Left out of the picture
Dear Editor, Thank you for your report on visitors to Longford Cathedral by Mags Gargan (IC 10/09/15), but I was disappointed that there was no mention of the ‘miraculous’ picture of the Holy Family which survived the devastating fire. At this time of satanic attacks on Catholic families, how heartening to know that The Holy…
Exaggerated statistics are food for thought
Dear Editor, For a long time, prior to the referendum on same-sex marriage, the media, for the greater part, engaged in a thoroughly biased promotional exercise. Time and again it was stated that some 80% of the Irish people would vote in favour. Not once did I hear these statistics questioned, but they should have…
Plenty of beds near Knock
Dear Editor, I note Msgr Denis O’Callaghan laments the lack of hotel accommodation near Knock. He is probably unaware of the excellent Park Hotel, Kiltimagh, and the McWilliams Hotel in Claremorris, both less than 10 minutes drive from the Shrine. There are also many good bed and breakfast houses there. Hopefully, people will not be…
Celebrating the liturgy
Cathal Barry presents an overview of Church teaching on liturgical celebration
God encompasses and embodies all complexity
Recently, at an academic dinner, I was sitting across the table from a nuclear scientist. At one point, I asked him this question: Do you believe that there’s human life on other planets? His answer surprised me: “As a scientist, no, I don’t believe there’s human life on another planet. Scientifically, the odds are strongly…
Discernment and vocation: another doubting Thomas
Vocation is not a test it is a call from God, writes Gavin Kerr
The troubling case of ‘Miss Y’
“Miss Y’s case is a heart-breaking one, but the facts are clear: she is alive”, writes Michael Kelly

Courtney McGrail
Cathal Barry
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly