It’s not unusual – when a person passes the milestone of 80 years of age – to ask what they celebrate and what they regret over the passage of their lives. Vincent Browne, the legendary publisher, editor, journalist, and inquisitorial broadcaster who, in his time, made politicians quake in their shoes, says that his greatest regret…
The suffering of the victims and survivors of Northern Ireland’s conflict was very much compounded by the passing last year of the NI Legacy (Troubles and Reconciliation) Act, which was forced through parliament despite the united opposition of all the political parties in Northern Ireland, the vast majority of Troubles victims throughout the UK, most UK…
I was sad to have upset Mary Stewart, who wrote a letter recently to this newspaper expressing disappointment that I said that there was not now a single reason to vote for Donald Trump. I admire how for many years, Mary Stewart kept the pro-life flag flying almost single-handedly in the letters column of The…
Letter from Rome Since unveiling a new set of norms for evaluating the validity of alleged Marian apparitions and other spiritual phenomena two months ago, the Vatican has put out rulings on several cases, recently approving devotion to two popular Marian appearances in Italy. In mid-May, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith…
Catholics in US politics has always been an interesting subject. Famously, John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic President of the United States and had to overcome significant prejudice from a country who had – and in some ways continues to have – a suspicion of the Catholic Church and the fears of it being…
Notebook It was All-Ireland Sunday 2001 – Meath vs Galway. There are two men I am remembering today, one was in the thrust of the action, the other watching from his hospital bed. One of them died within days of the final, the other in recent weeks. Tim Fitzmaurice, a Roscommon Man was in hospital,…
Letter of the week The persecution of those with Christian values Dear Editor, I have written in the past regarding my deep appreciation of The Irish Catholic newspaper, and now I write to express that same appreciation of all the great writers who contribute to this paper and, above all, to some new contributors, especially…
Personally, I would not have refused Holy Communion to Fine Gael politician and Junior Minister, Colm Burke, if I were a priest or eucharistic minister. Nonetheless, Fr Gabriel Burke, the priest who did refuse Deputy Burke communion, has prompted a necessary debate on who should receive communion and when, because the attitude to the receipt…
Dean Keating These recent elections were not the parting of the fog that many had hoped for or the endorsement of Government that the Taoiseach has claimed. At best, we can see a stagnation for all three major parties and a diversification of the Irish political spectrum, caused by a rejection of the Government’s more…
An artist who stabbed a man to death is having two of his paintings exhibited at the Ulster Museum in Belfast. Although no stranger to brawling and prison, powerful connections enabled his notorious behaviour for years; and his talent for producing psychologically complex, deeply spiritual masterpieces helped sustain him. At present, there is a steady…
Mary Kenny
Nuala O’Loan
Breda O'Brien
David Quinn
Martina Purdy