Month: March 2014

Dear Editor, There has been much talk in Catholic Church circles about next year’s planned referendum to permit same-sex marriage. Can I be alone in looking towards the referendum campaign with trepidation? Recent months have shown that there is very little temperance in Ireland when it comes to public debates about sensitive moral issues. Undoubtedly,…

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Dear Editor, now that we have two Archbishop Martins (Diarmuid in Dublin and Eamon in Armagh) isn’t it time that Pope Francis made one or other a cardinal so we’ll know the difference? Yours etc., Martin Reilly, Belfast, Co. Antrim.

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Dear Editor, At their annual Ard Fheis at the weekend Fianna Fáil delegates passed a motion calling on the Government to invite Pope Francis to Ireland. Let’s hope that Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore will have the graciousness to do so. Where there was talk of Pope Benedict XVI visiting – a great…

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There is a silence around what is happening in our prisons. Earlier this month the Department of Justice published four reports on prisoners who had died while on temporary release. The reports describe very vulnerable individuals who have been failed by society, by social services, education services and the prison service. Did you see anything…

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Columba McCann is currently the Master of Ceremonies for the Archbishop of Dublin. So he is in charge of the very grandest of religious ceremonies to be seen from time to time in the capital. But this book has another audience in mind, those working at the parish level to enhance the experience of the…

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