Parents must stand up for religious education, writes Rik Van Nieuwenhove The proposals of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism, set up by the Minister for Education, if implemented, will have a devastating effect on the Catholic identity of primary schools throughout Ireland. An advisory group, headed by Professor Coolahan, is preparing a report for…
Changes in family life A new study of Irish family life has disclosed how family patterns have changed over the years, with more couples co-habiting, more children born out of wedlock, and almost one child in five growing up with a single parent. We should never have too rigid an attitude to family structure in…
Co-operatives are often the children of crisis, writes Fr Dermot McKenna The United Nations (UN) has declared this coming year, 2012, the Year of the Co-operatives. This is a very exciting development for all those involved in the co-op movement. Despite the fact that co-operatives are widespread in many countries of the world, they tend…
Praying One of the reasons we need to pray is so that we don’t lose heart. We all do sometimes. We lose heart whenever frustration, tiredness, fear and helplessness in the face of life’s humiliations conspire together to paralyse our energies, deaden our resiliency, drain our courage and leave us feeling weak in depression.…
Is Scotland unwilling to face its sectarianism, asks Paul Keenan Next week, the Scottish parliament will vote on the proposed offensive behaviour at football and threatening communications (Scotland) bill, following a month-long debate on the best legislative response to the issue of sectarianism in the country. Backed by the majority Scottish National Party, which…
Is it wise to genetically tamper with the crops we grow, asks Prof. William Reville It is quite likely that Roundup is the herbicide that is best known to readers of this column. Roundup is widely used worldwide in agriculture and gardening to control weeds. But weeds are far from helpless in the face…
Problematic missal changes hinder future The new translation of the Missal is symptomatic of a wider shift away from collegiality in the Church, writes Fr John Mannion What we have been given in the new translation of the Roman Missal is an awkward, Latinised English in the name of ‘renewal’. This is very…
Eamon Maher The year 2011 continued the painful decline of the Catholic Church in Ireland. The publication of the Cloyne Report was followed by an unprecedented attack on the Vatican by the newly elected Taoiseach — and practicing Catholic — Enda Kenny. For the leader of the Fine Gael party to claim that the…
Perhaps, like Dickens, we will say it was the worst of years, but it was the best of years too, for like every other year it was mixed in blessings and in worries. But, some leaves from my diary remembering interesting experiences of the year In February, I visited Cambridge at the invitation of Professor…
The View Child abuse sadly appears to be widespread in all societies, writes David Quinn A major report into the problem of child abuse in the Catholic Church in Holland was published in the run-up to Christmas. The report brings us closer to being able to answer such questions as whether the problem was…
Mary Kenny
David Quinn