Open debate and free discourse are healthy, so maybe it’s good that we are witnessing “rebel priests”, such as Fr Iggy O’Donovan, Fr Gerard Moloney, Fr Tony Flannery and Fr Brian D’Arcy making their opinions known, even when this invites Vatican disapproval. I am not sure if the correct word really is “silenced”, since…
Category: Opinion
Disappearing Roots
"Home is where we start from.” T.S. Eliot wrote that and it describes an experience that can be felt both as a freedom and as a heartache. I cite my own case: I grew up in a second-generation immigrant community on the Canadian prairies. My grandparents’ generation had been the first settlers in that…
Pope’s Assisi visit will put focus on St Francis
Before the papal election Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio hadn’t given a thought to what name he would choose if he was elected Pope. The very idea hadn’t even entered his mind. Even immediately after his election he still hadn’t thought what name to choose. Then a good friend of his, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, Archbishop Emeritus of Sao…
Lessons on military interventions not learnt
Dear Editor, Despite his political manoeuvring, one suspects that President Barak Obama intends to bomb Syria. It is amazing that the West does not learn from the results of its military intervention in Iraq, Afganistan and Libya. In the case of Iraq these results have been catastrophic. The proposal that it should intervene in the fratricidal…
Headlines with double meanings
Dear Editor, Did you notice the ambiguity on page 4 in your September 12 headline, “Police patrol threatened Catholic schools”. When I first read the headline, I read it as saying that police patrols had gone to Catholic schools so as to attack them. But, when I read the article, it was clear that the police…
Promoting fertility awareness
Dear Editor, Fertility awareness is a subject that comes up for discussion in the media from time to time. However it falls short of explaining that there is information available that every woman should know. This is information, scientifically proven, whereby a couple can plan or postpone a pregnancy, as deemed necessary. It would…
Nothing justifies voting for abortion
Dear Editor, The President and Taoiseach slammed the Catholic Church with their abortion legislation and they then participated in a Eucharistic celebration – the “Source and Summit of our Faith” – that demonstrated to the Church and future generations their disregard for the Magisterium. Unfortunately there has been little effective response from the hierarchy. …
Proving existence of God
Dear Editor, I asked a group of young people to do some research with a view to discover whether or not God really exists. They gave me the analysis of their investigations and their resultant proof of the existence of God. This world goes on a huge space journey every 365 ¼ days around the…
Parishes praying for peace
Dear Editor, The Irish Catholic (IC 05/09/2013) report titled “Irish parishes respond to Pope’s peace vigil call,” rightly drew attention to the massive peace efforts of Pope Francis and his pre-announced Saturday Rome vigil of fasting and prayer in respect of Syria. Pope Francis made an international appeal to Catholics, Christians, believers and all peace…
Don’t shoot the messenger
Dear Editor, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin recently criticised sections of the Catholic press in Ireland for a ‘growing tendency to tabloidism’. I presume his criticism is not directed at The Irish Catholic, which while supportive of the archbishop’s work on dealing with clerical sexual abuse, has also raised questions about the extent of his leadership in…