I was chatting with a group of friends, and the conversation turned to the mood of the times – with particular application to the new sensitivities around sexual harassment and those who prey on young girls. “Remember that song that Maurice Chevalier used to sing, Thank Heavens for Little Girls? It would be banned if it…
Bishop Fintan Monahan, Bishop William Lee , Bishop Phonsie Cullinan, Dom Andre Barbour, Bishop Kieran O’Reilly and Bishop Willie Walsh with Mount Melleray’s Abbot Richard Purcell (centre) ahead of a Mass to invoke God’s blessing on the new abbot and his ministry. Photo: Oisin McHugh/ True Media
Almost 300 families have been helped out of homelessness this year by Focus Ireland, the charity has said at the launch of its annual Christmas Appeal. Highlighting how over 3,000 children are homeless nationwide, the charity said that while Ireland’s homeless crisis continues to worsen, with a record total of 8374 people now homeless, things…
Using public funds to pay private landlords to house homeless people is not sustainable due to the increasing cost and lack of housing according to Fr Peter McVerry. In the Peter McVerry Trust’s Annual Report 2016 the accommodation team stated that throughout 2016 there was a need to secure “exceptional payments” above the rent supplement…
A huge proportion of young people leaving State care are becoming homeless as social workers scramble to find accommodation, according to several Irish charities. The Department of Youth Affairs offers an aftercare service which aims to offer guidance and practical supports with regards to education, financial support, social network support and training for young people…
New In Brief The young pupils of a Limerick school surprised a grateful priest by reuniting him with his All-Ireland winning medals. The Confirmation class of Caherline National School were asked to choose an act of kindness, and decided to help Fr Par Currivan after he mentioned he had lost the medals from the menor…
An Oxford University pro-life group has expressed dismay at “a deliberate attempt to shut down discussion and dialogue” during a talk by Irish Catholic columnist Breda O’Brien (pictured) and barrister Lorcan Price. The two speakers addressed an Oxford Students for Life (OSFL) event in St John’s College on November 1, but shortly after Mrs O’Brien…
The View I recently spent a morning with religious education teachers and diocesan workers from the Diocese of Derry talking about the teaching of relationship and sex education. I met a wonderful group of lively, compassionate, caring, interested and dedicated young people. The following day in Galway, I met priests, brothers and sisters who belong to religious…
Separating sex and love has been a disaster for men and women, writes David Quinn Even Freud believed a certain amount of repression of our instincts was necessary to civilisation. Freud was the ‘patron saint’ of anti-repression but he saw that a certain amount of repression, or to put it another way, of ‘civilised…
News In Brief The North’s pro-life laws should be supported, a leading member of the SDLP has said. Noting how almost nine million children have been aborted in Britain since the passage of the 1967 Abortion Act, Alban Maginness, Belfast North MLA from 1998 to 2016, wrote in The Belfast Telegraph that over 100,000 babies…
Mary Kenny
Chai Brady
Nuala O’Loan
David Quinn