Communication is vitally important in any relationship, but all the more so when it comes to the deepest relationships of marriage and family, writes Jason Osborne Consistently listed among the reasons marriages break down and families fall apart is a failure of communication. It need not necessarily be some big fall-out or argument either that…
Category: Your Faith
The power of positive thinking
There’s nothing new-age about the effect adopting a sunnier outlook has on your life, writes Jason Osborne I recently finished Joan Druett’s Island of the Lost, a book concerning shipwrecks on the Auckland Islands, a desolate, uninhabited place 290 miles south of New Zealand. Situated in the stormy South Pacific Ocean, its shores have seen many…
The funny thing about trust
Everyday Philosophy Trust is a funny thing. To see why, imagine you’re betting on a horse race. You’re betting on the favourite, Philosopher’s Rant, but you’ve heard some background information about the horse and his competitors reckon he still only has a 33% chance of winning. In this situation, you want to bet if you…
Family News
‘Hunger stones’ reveal ancient drought warnings With an intense drought causing rivers across Europe to shrink, stones with etchings warning of hard times ahead have been re-appearing in a number of the continent’s rivers. One such stone is to be found on the banks of the Elbe River, which begins in the Czech Republic and…
Young Church
Overturning Roe vs Wade is the result of a nearly 50-year effort committed to a singular outcome – protecting the lives of the unborn human. Without debate, this decision will carry profound political, social, and personal effects regarding pro-life topics throughout our culture, not only in America but indeed here in Ireland. We are already…
No life more rewarding than the priesthood
Personal Profile In June of this year, the parish of Kilskeery gathered in St Macartan’s Church for an eagerly-awaited day – the celebration of Canon John McKenna’s 60 years in the priesthood. Reflecting on his six decades of service, Canon McKenna told me that no life “could have been more enjoyable and rewarding”. He recalls…
Seeing what lies near our doorsteps
Henri Nouwen once suggested that if you want to understand the tragedy of the Second World War, you can read a hundred history books about it and watch a thousand hours of video documentaries on it, or you can read the Diary of Anne Frank. In that single memoir of a young girl imprisoned and…
A soapy toothpick meets some pepper flakes
Scientific experiments are an excellent way to learn about the world around you and also allow you to create, imagine, and explore. Although in films scientists are often wearing long white lab coats and are usually surrounded with test-tubes of bubbling liquids, you don’t actually need any of these things to do your own scientific…
Humility is down-to-earth honesty
The Sunday Gospel On a sabbath day Jesus was invited for a meal to the house of a leading Pharisee (Luke 14:1). No table was considered blessed unless a scholar sat at it. The body will savour the delights of victual and vine all the more if the meal is salted with lively table-talk. In Luke’s…
The secrets of ageless ageing
Dr Karen Ward shares tips to help ease the ageing process in her chapter on physicality from her new book, The Secret of Ageless Ageing I wondered about a milestone that would herald crossing the line between being middle-aged and becoming an older woman. For me, it was wearing reading glasses in public for the…



Ben Conroy


Ruadhán Jones
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Chai Brady

