It’s the time of the Feast of Christ the King, which marks my annual one-woman Advent restoration campaign. In CS Lewis’ book, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe the reign of the White Witch in Narnia means that it is always winter and never Christmas. In our culture, we suffer from a similar problem, except…
Category: Opinion
Hold politicians accountable on domestic violence this election
Sr Fiona Pryle Coming up to the elections, Ireland has a chance to do something radical! Will violence against women be on all the manifestos of the political parties and will they give a commitment to provide proper refuge spaces in each county? We, the voting public can hold our politicians accountable when they appear…
A faith worth living for
Two bishops stood on Co. Down hillside, facing each other, both draped in blood red, the colour of the martyr. It was a poignant scene at the weekend, as the Bishop of Down and Connor pondered the stone monument of St Patrick, which was illuminated in red, as the sun went down at Saul, the…
Applying pro-life votes effectively in General Election
We’re currently in full swing of the general election campaign, with the polling date set for Friday, November 29. In this election, the stakes are very high for the pro-life movement. In May 2023, we saw the passage at the second stage of a very extreme abortion bill, introduced by People Before Profit. This bill…
A dire warning from Canada for us all
In case you hadn’t noticed, there are serious moves being made in the House of Commons to allow assisted suicide. Where Britain goes, we usually follow in due course. The bill to permit assisted suicide is not being sponsored by the new Labour Government, but by a member of the Labour party and there will…
A terrible event recalled..
Years ago, I had a certain amount of sympathy for Provisional Sinn Féin/IRA. I even defended some of their tactics on the – now I think stupid and wicked – revolutionary principle that “you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs”. I felt the Catholic nationalist people of Northern Ireland had suffered long injustices: maybe…
You can’t force yourself to forgive, it is a healing
I remember my mother, before she died, warning me to fill out the list of the dead each November. And so every year I faithfully sit down and think of those I have known, those who have died in the last year and those who have passed my path in life. It can be a…
The new evangelisation
An Irish stonemason, with little education, became one of the great evangelists of the last century. And his story is now entwined with the famous American bishop Robert Barron, himself the son of Irish emigrants, whose Word on Fire network has gone global. I heard the story at St Comgall’s School on the Falls Road…
Will Ireland follow the US’ back to basics approach?
As the politicians of Ireland take to the streets in preparation for the forthcoming election, the fallout and post-election analysis from the US continues. A resounding victory for President Elect Donald Trump, and ignominious defeat for current Vice President Kamala Harris, have made for pages and pages of political post-mortems. While there are major differences…
US Election – lessons for Irish politicians
Irish politicians may well be looking warily on the US election results as they move into the race for power. There can be no doubt that Donald Trump won the election because he was listening to what mattered to the people of the United States, and planning to address their very real concerns which echo…

Breda O'Brien
Martina Purdy
Eilis Mulroy
David Quinn
Mary Kenny


Maria Steen
Nuala O’Loan