Everyday Philosophy What’s the opposite of good, clear thinking? An obvious answer is ‘biased thinking’. The truth is that we’re all biased. None of us are gods or angels, and the brains with which we do our thinking often go wrong, the whirls and eddies of our thoughts pushing us away from the truth…
Little Nellie – Special Feature Serious questions are being asked by Little Nellie’s devotees about access to her grave. The path is overgrown and difficult to reach with several obstacles in the way – making it almost impossible for an elderly or disabled person to access the cemetery. When the site, formerly owned by the…
Arrests of immigrants in the US illegally are increasing nationwide, and the result is more children are losing – or fearing they will lose – a parent through detention or deportation. On July 22, the Trump administration released a new policy allowing immigration officials to quickly arrest and deport undocumented immigrants without going before a…
Is it bizarre to find a connection between the Harry Potter books and the Eucharist? It is something that has been going around in my head for a while. In the books it gradually becomes clear that the evil character Voldemort cannot easily be killed. He has placed a horcrux – a piece of his…
Elsewhere: One Woman, One Rucksack, One Lifetime of Travel by Rosita Boland (Doubleday, €16.99) Barbara Pierce Elsewhere is a fascinating series of essays written about extraordinary journeys travelled by Rosita Boland over a period of about thirty years. She set off alone with only a 10kg bag, a passport and a black note book, no…
Personal Profile Madison Duddy Such spiritual places of retreat will be needed to recover ground lost to the materialism of modern Ireland,” says Gráinne McGroarty, a Co. Donegal native who founded Grásta Dé, a group of hermitage sites within the Inishowen peninsula. Gráinne believes this hectic world wears people out physically and spiritually, and a…
Little Nellie – Special Feature Despite an extensive investigation carried out by canon lawyers, clergy and lay people, Bishop-Emeritus of Cork and Ross John Buckley was not convinced that the evidence collated on Little Nellie warranted sending to Rome. He acknowledged that there was a huge interest in Little Nellie among the faithful in his…
A well-known lay organisation’s national congress will focus both on the challenging times the Church currently faces, and plans for the future. St Joseph’s Young Priests Society (SJYPS) will hold their congress in Dublin City University from August 24-25. The society decided on the theme ‘Be not afraid – the Lord is my shepherd’, saying…
A number of years ago at a symposium on Faith and evangelisation, one of the speakers made a rather startling statement. She, a Christian activist, ended her presentation with words to this effect: “I work for the poor and I do it out of my Christian Faith. I’m committed to this because of Jesus, but I…
Abuse reports confirmed about famed Jesuit in Chile While deceased Jesuit Fr Renato Poblete Barth was known publicly as a champion of the poor in Chile, an internal investigation funded by the Jesuits revealed that the famed clergyman abused more than a dozen women over a span of nearly 50 years. The results of the…
Ben Conroy
Chai Brady
Bairbre Cahill
Fr Ronald Rolheiser