Dear Editor, I’m sure that I’m not the only one who is totally baffled and shocked at the news that the Mater Hospital has agreed to carry out abortions in keeping with the Government’s legislation, the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act. Recently, Fr Kevin Doran said that the Mater Hospital could not carry out…
Category: Opinion
Pope Francis and the common good
Dear Editor, Suppose that Pope Francis had said in his now-famous interview that Catholics should stop obsessing about social justice issues, such as combating poverty and discrimination and war, and instead preach the Gospel of mercy. There would have been a fierce outcry. And rightly so. Does the Pope not realise, people would have said,…
Most baptisms are ‘invalid’
Dear Editor, Charles Byrne is right in voicing his concern that “tens or even hundreds of invalid baptisms” were celebrated with Fr Iggy O’Donovan acting as celebrant (IC 26/9/13). While the affair as reported has a distinctive legalistic and Pharisaical aspect to it, I would not just agree with the statistics quoted but multiply them…
Thanks for the Francis interview
Dear Editor, Many thanks and congratulations on your visionary initiative in publishing the full interview given by our ever-surprising Pope Francis in your September 26 issue. Many regard it as a historical new-start in renewal for the Church Let’s hope you may have many copies in some convenient form for any who may have missed…
A lesson from the road
Fr Ronald Rolheiser finds himself on the Camino de Santiago
People want pastors not bureaucrats
Nuala O’LoanFrancis poses enormous challenges to the faithful, writes Nuala O’Loan
Renewal buried under red tape
Dear Editor, The letter from Seamus Flanagan (‘We need renewal, not reform’ IC 05/09/13), is tremendous, yet written in clear, simple language. I agree completely with him. That is the very heart of the matter. Over the centuries the Church has been gradually choked. Whatever good reform brought, through councils, canon law, etc., has been…
Pope Francis is a Pope for our times
Dear Editor, As the pontificate of Pope Francis continues through its first year, it is becoming ever more certain that the right man for the Church of our times was chosen by the conclave in March. The personal style Francis has brought to the papacy has appealed to all who believe in the caring and…
The media ‘obsession’ with abortion and gay marriage
David QuinnThere was an unhealthy focus on the Pope’s interview, writes David Quinn
Pope speaks to world crying out for mercy
Michael KellyPope Francis understands the art of communication and the golden rule that what is heard really is the message, writes Michael Kelly