Brendan O’ReganIt’s all about The Narrative – you know, the version of a story carefully spun to suit somebody’s agenda, gleefully swallowed by the unthinking and enhanced by a trip to Outrage Factory. And so it was with the symphysiotomy controversy. For the last few years this child birth intervention was seen as ‘barbaric’, ‘torture’ and…
Month: December 2016
What we really gain from life
Peter CostelloIt is As it Is: a True Story of Hope Loss and Friendship by Malina Stahre-Godycka (Veritas, €14.99)
In the heart of rural Cork
“Ancient Sweet Donoughmore”: Life in an Irish rural parish to 1900 by Gerard O’Rourke (Redmond Grove Publications, €35.00 including p+p)
A book that spans the ages
A True Symbol of the City of Dublin – The Ha’penny Bridge Dublin by Michael English and others (Dublin City Council, €24.95pb / €34.95hb)
Cardinals argue that submitting ‘dubia’ is not such a bad thing
Courtney McGrailDespite well-observed concerns in recent times about the effects of social media bubbles, the internet remains an incredibly empowering phenomenon. In particular, it allows us access to documents hitherto reserved to the few: anyone nowadays can in moments call up the Treaty of Rome to establish that freedom of movement has been a principle of…
Pom pom tree to create a festive air
Erin FoxDecember is here and the excitement for Christmas has well and truly kicked in. It might still be too early to put the tree up, but you can keep your Christmas spirit satisfied by making homemade decorations while you wait. You can ‘cheat’ and make a miniature tree to gaze at while you are waiting…
Family of origin
Wendy GraceThe unique marital bond is not meant to be compromised by parents or siblings, writes Wendy Grace
Worrying about the end of the world…
Fr Ronald RolheiserPeople are forever predicting the end of the world. In Christian circles this is generally connected with speculation around the promise Jesus made at his ascension, namely, that he would be coming back, and soon, to bring history to its culmination and establish God’s eternal kingdom. There have been speculations about the end of the…
World Youth Day 2019
The theme for World Youth Day 2019 in Panama will be “I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk. 1:38), the Dicastery for Laity, the Family, and Life has announced. This means that World Youth from 2017 will have Mary as a central figure for…
Vatican Roundup
More prelates intervene in Amoris Laetitia row The row centred on the Pope’s encyclical on the family, Amoris Laetitia, rumbles on. Following last week’s intervention by four cardinals seeking to question Pope Francis’ knowledge of Church teaching on the family, and the rebuke by the Pontiff and a subsequent invitation from Cardinal Blase Cupich of…