Month: August 2019

Parishes taking the lead on becoming more green

EXCLUSIVE David Quinn & Colm Fitzpatrick A number of churches are leading by example on green energy and showing parishes all over the country how they can affordably move, with State support, from fossil fuel heating systems to renewable energy ones that will save them money over time. The Government recently announced a major plan…

A disability campaigner is a welcome face

I hear the words “Marie Antoinette” increasingly used about Meghan, Duchess of Sussex – invoking the late (largely naïve) Queen of France as a symbol of privilege without responsibility. “Doing a Marie Antoinette” is shorthand for availing of every entitlement possible while play-acting at being just a simple milkmaid or shepherdess. Duchess Meghan’s latest caper…

The great national lie: us and them

I’m always interested in the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, and the kind of country we live in. The English, bless them, still think that the world should give them thanks for civilising so much of it. The Americans are convinced that no country has ever been as special as they are.…

Nuns ship ‘life changing’ supplies to disabled in Kenya

After an anonymous donation Irish nuns were able to ship a large number of wheelchairs, standing frames, crutches and more that they had gathered to help children and adults with disabilities in Kenya. The Daughters of Charity (DC) Services in Ireland described the container load of equipment as “life changing” for people with a disability,…

Welcoming a realistic union

The View   The 2018 Annual Report of Christ Church Oxford, where I was at college 50 years ago, arrived recently. Christ Church is one of those institutions, which are both academic and ecclesiastical, with the cathedral of the Diocese of Oxford at the back of the front quadrangle. It was founded by Cardinal Wolsey,…

A radical experiment in Christian living

The Bruderhof community is an oasis of sanity in our world, writes David Quinn   A small, little known religious community called the Bruderhof has been gaining a bit of attention lately because of an upcoming documentary about them that is to air on the BBC.  The community consists of about 3,000 members spread across…