Notebook The Feast of Corpus Christi this weekend reminds us to reflect on and celebrate the extraordinary gift that Jesus left us at The Last Supper. The gift of himself in the form of very ordinary food, bread. One of my fears is that because we have the opportunity to attend Mass and receive Communion…
In London, the FA Cup Final was played at the weekend. As is traditional, the inspiring hymn Abide With Me was sung with gusto before the soccer action got underway. Sports fans know a thing or two about faith and hope. To give yourself fully to your favourite team is to be a true believer,…
Letter of the Week Highest honour bestowed on Dana Dear Editor, News that Ireland’s first Eurovision Song Contest winner in 1970 and former MEP Dana Rosemary Scallon has been conferred with a Papal honour, in recognition for services rendered to the Catholic Church, is cause to rejoice. Dana who regularly appears on EWTN, wrote and…
Tony O’Reilly, who died at the weekend, did a lot for Ireland, quite beyond inventing the “Kerrygold” butter brand, although that is a noteworthy success. It was also about rebranding Ireland itself, as a country where people could thrive. In his unstinting work for the Ireland Funds, he advanced the Peace Process and worked consistently to…
In early May Pope Francis addressed the reality of birth rates decreasing in Italy and urged Italians to have more children. “It is important to work together to promote natality with realism, foresight, and courage” Pope Francis said, introducing the topic of tumbling birth-rates in Europe to his audience. “Birth rates” he said, “are the…
It is not that long since divorce was not permitted in Ireland at all. The State followed the view of the Catholic Church that marriage should be permanent and indissoluble. This was a country with an overwhelmingly Catholic population, and so when a referendum to make divorce legal was first put to the country in…
If a woman has not had her first child by the time she is 30, statistically, she has only a 50% chance of ever having a baby. It’s a shocking fact that we can no longer ignore. We find ourselves in a space where couples experience involuntary childlessness, i.e. those who always wanted children but…
There is a real prospect of pro-life gains in the upcoming elections, writes Eilís Mulroy Before voters go to the polls in Irish elections, the Pro Life Campaign has, for many years now, published a ‘Voter Guide’ with a comprehensive list of candidates and where they stand on right-to-life issues. As well as being an…
Last Friday, the Vatican rolled out a new expedited procedure for vetting alleged Marian apparitions or other spiritual phenomenon, ruling that they will no longer deemed supernatural, but simply that nothing stands in the way of encouraging devotion. In an introductory presentation of the new norms, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for…
A few years ago I was free. I had no house. No wife. No baby. I had all the freedom in the world. In the last few years my life has been colonised. Taken over. My freedom is gone. I have responsibilities and commitments. Decisions I make are no longer taken with my own interests…
Mary Kenny
Renata Milán Morales
David Quinn
Wendy Grace
Eilis Mulroy