Recently, I was struck in a fresh way by a stale cliché. I heard someone opining that Massgoers are “voting with their feet” and, although I had heard those words many times before, on this occasion I was practically knocked off my own feet by the superficiality of the expression. The issues facing the Church…
Category: Opinion
Fight against Pope and Vatican reform intensifies
Courtney McGrailTurkeys don’t vote for Christmas and bureaucracies don’t support reform. The election of Pope Francis almost two years ago with a key mandate for reform of the Church’s central administration marked somewhat of a watershed. Neither St John Paul II nor Benedict XVI were particularly recognised as Popes who had much interest in governing the…
Emotional attachment is just as important as genetics
Mary KennyI was informally fostered by an uncle and aunt when I was seven, and I often feel this has given me a sense of identification with children who are fostered or adopted. Family fostering – an old Irish custom – is not quite the same as being placed with an unknown foster-family. Yet I did…
Elections may bring instability
Dr Martin ManserghMartin Mansergh, The View
Nationalist parties are alienating Catholic voters
David QuinnThe DUP is starting to look like an attractive option for some Catholics in the North, writes David Quinn
Without free will God would be a dictator
Dear Editor, Lately it has become customary to discredit the existence of God by claiming that an all merciful, all loving God would never allow suffering in the world. This is an approach taken recently by Stephen Fry and even the great naturalist, David Attenborough, remarked that many people often ask him why he doesn’t attribute…
Same-sex marriage stamp in breach of ruling
Dear Editor, The new postage stamp is, perhaps, a useful reminder of what any government will do to ensure that “its” amendment to the Constitution (of the people) is carried (IC 12/02/2015 ‘Pro-same-sex marriage stamp is criticised’). Supreme Court judgements have commented adversely on public money being spent by the Government on the Divorce Referendum,…
Obama’s unpopularity with Catholics no surprise
Dear Editor, Your correspondent from America, Michael W. Higgins, makes some extraordinary statements (IC 19/02/2015) from the point of view of anyone who sees President Obama first and foremost as a champion of abortion right up to birth, who not only defends his position when and where called for, but forces others not so minded…
Biblical teaching on marriage is quite clear
Dear Editor, I cannot see how any Christian believer can accept same sex marriage without neglecting or rejecting what God has revealed about marriage: “Have you not read that the creator from the beginning made them male and female, and that he said: ‘This is why a man must leave father and mother, and cling…
Ten Commandments address global problems
Dear Editor, The violent deaths of so many people in Paris recently would not have happened if the ten commandments from the Bible were followed. In the Koran, there are concepts of God, Heaven and Hell akin to Judaeo-Christian beliefs, within recognition of Old Testament prophets. Moses, an Old Testament prophet, received the ten commandments…