Dear Editor, Commenting on the vocations downturn, a wise priest once told us eager students: “Gentlemen, we have enough priests to minister comfortably to practising Catholics. What we don’t have is enough priests to minister to cultural Catholics.” Increasingly, I think he was correct. Much of the present discussion about priest shortages begins with the…
The day the Leaving Cert results were published, Friday, August 21, was, we hope, a happy and memorable day for all students. At the end of a long straight road of five or six years in secondary school, they’re now starting off down a new one. Don’t all of us middle-aged adults feel again the…
I sat the Leaving Certificate in June 1981. I don’t remember much about it other than I am sure I was very nervous, since that would be my default setting for all exams! In my mind’s eye, I can see hands going up looking for an extra answer sheet whilst mine was less than a…
“The Synod is watering the garden, but the house is on fire.” That is not The Irish Catholic talking. It is the verdict of an experienced parish priest in the Diocese of Kildare & Leighlin, a man who supports the synodal pathway and has given years to it, speaking after this summer’s appointments were announced.…
Who would have imagined that one of the biggest celebrities associated with Christian faith would be a country and western singer in an exaggerated blonde wig, glittering rhinestone costumes and teetering high heels? But yes, the late Dolly Parton always openly proclaimed her Christianity, said she started each day with a prayer, and asked God,…
Abortion is a ‘David and Goliath’ fight – and we all know how that turned out. But securing the right to life for unborn children is going to be a long battle before victory is won. While David had five stones, we Catholics have five decades on our rosaries – powerful spiritual weapons. “God has…
The other night I was watching a disaster movie called Deep Impact, which is about a comet on course to hit Earth and the efforts to stop it. Even though it was made not that long ago – in 1998 to be precise – it still offered an unintended insight into a world quite different…
Kildare and Leighlin pastoral letter on the new reality of priesthood in Irish dioceses Dear friends, I am writing this Pastoral Letter in response to the new reality that now faces us in Kildare and Leighlin Diocese. The decline in the number of priests, as some are recalled by their own orders or returned…
Women are finding their voices about how appallingly they have been failed under the current abortion regime. Their stories are far too serious for the Government to gloss over, writes Eilís Mulroy When the Dáil returns after the summer recess, one of the most consequential political battles of recent times will resume. The attempt…
I was sitting in my Police Ombudsman office after lunch on September 11, 2001, expecting visitors – the American and Canadian Police Chiefs who formed the Patten Oversight Commission were coming to consult me about the progress of the RUC in implementing the recommendations for police reform. As usual, I had the television on, silent,…
Mary Kenny
Martina Purdy
David Quinn
Eilis Mulroy
Nuala O’Loan