The Church’s mission is not an addition to that of Christ and the Holy Spirit, but is its sacrament, writes Cathal Barry

Normally none of us like feeling sad, heavy, or depressed. Generally we prefer sunshine to darkness, light-heartedness to melancholy. That’s why, most of the time, we do everything we can to distract ourselves from melancholy, to keep heaviness and sadness at bay. We tend to run from those feelings inside us that sadden or frighten…

I had no idea that St Thérèse of Lisieux had such a massive band of devotees until the visit of her relics in 2001. A headline in this newspaper at the end of the tour’s first week reported that 100,000 people had turned out in the South East.  I was travelling a lot that summer…

Same-sex marriage referendum is likely to be one of the most divisive political campaigns Ireland has seen, writes Michael Kelly

What is informally called the Pope’s ‘rabbit’ speech – when he remarked that families don’t have to “breed like rabbits” – scarcely needed underlining in most European countries today. Far from “breeding like rabbits”, the European fertility rate is catastrophically low. And even in Ireland, where fertility has traditionally been high – and even valued…

Martin Mansergh, The View

History can be shaped to reflect perspectives, writes David Quinn

The idea of making Confirmation at a later age has caused a debate, writes Cathal Barry