I was walking through the carpark into the supermarket when she waved at me and said hello. Well actually it was more like “ello” which is fair enough as she was only about 18 months old, sitting in the trolley while her mum packed bags of groceries into the boot of the car. “Ello” she called…
Questions of Faith Many Eastern religions hold to the doctrine of reincarnation – from Latin literally meaning ‘entering the flesh again’ – proponents of this idea hold that living organisms like human beings repeatedly take on a new physical form after death. In some traditions, a human can be reborn as an animal or even…
Róise McGagh examines whether children in Ireland are exercising enough. Kids are often quite energetic and would naturally take care of themselves when it comes to running around and filling their daily quota of activity. However, in recent years technology has had a big impact on the how active young people all the way up…
Everyday Philosophy An important distinction in political philosophy is that between substantive and procedural questions. If I have a substantive problem with an action, it’s because of the moral rights or wrongs of the action itself or its results. Imagine the government raised the top rate of income tax. If I were to criticise that…
Most of us have heard of St Thérèse of Lisieux, a French mystic who died at age 24 in 1897 and who is perhaps the most popular saint of the last two centuries. She’s famous for many things, not least for a spirituality she called her ‘little way’. What is her ‘little way’? Popular thought…
Green Fingers We as humans are very dependent on tiny insects called pollinators. We need them because they pollinate most of the fruits and vegetables that make up our diet. Pollination occurs when pollen is moved within flowers or carried from one flower to another by insects. The transfer of pollen between flowers of the…
Through the looking glass Lewis Carroll’s works will be reimagined this January as the Sligo Hospital Musical Society presents their 23rd annual pantomime. This band of talented HSE employees has donated almost €200,000 to local Sligo charities from show proceeds. This year brings their first ever pantomime sequel following on from the successful 2014 Alice…
Personal Profile Faith communities in University College Dublin (UCD) are growing, and offer a space for students to support each other in their Catholic beliefs, according to the university chaplain. While there was only about a dozen students who attended lunchtime Mass when Fr Eamonn Bourke began his ministry four years ago, nowadays they…
I was working at home when the call came. A shake in the teacher’s voice told me that this was no ordinary playground fall. She said my son had fallen badly while playing football and that “he couldn’t see afterwards” and was complaining of headaches, as well as cuts to his arms and legs. I drove…
Questions of Faith The topic of married priests is hotly debated in Catholic circles today – the Bible tells us that man must leave his mother and father to be joined to his wife, so why is this injunction not applied to the clergy? It’s important to note that most clerics in the early Church…
Bairbre Cahill
Colm Fitzpatrick
Ben Conroy
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Paul Gargan
Chai Brady