How can a global religion help us navigate a global world, asks David Quinn It’s fair to say we live in a time of big political turmoil. We don’t want to exaggerate, mind you. It is not anything like as turbulent as the years from World War I until the end of World War…
Month: October 2019
Dublin archbishop caused IEC ‘cloud’
A top Vatican cardinal has accused Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of excessive negativity and in focusing too much on the Church’s failures. Speaking at the Autumn conference of the Association of Leaders of Missionaries and Religious of Ireland (AMRI) in Dublin, Cardinal Peter Turkson, who heads the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral…
Newman’s profound impact on the field of Irish literature
Cardinal Newman-Special Supplement “It is a curious thing, do you know,” observes a friend of Stephen Dedalus, James Joyce’s alter ego in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, “how your mind is supersaturated in the religion in which you say you disbelieve.” For Notre Dame’s Prof. Declan Kiberd, Ireland’s major writers…
Greta’s campaign consistent with Bible
Dear Editor, I was pleased to read an article in your publication (IC 03/10/19) praising the efforts of climate activist Greta Thunberg. Despite her age, this young girl has rallied countries and political leaders around the world to be more environmentally conscious and shed light on how detrimental our current carbon consumption really is. At…
The life-long literary vocation of John Henry Newman
Many saints have written on spirituality or theology. But few have been what John Henry Newman was, a writer by vocation, the author of lasting works in a wide variety of genres. The seeds of his sainthood, indeed the full flowering of his sainthood, are to be found in his writings, the whole range of…
The hinge of creation
Cardinal Newman-Special Supplement Conscience was for Newman the connecting principle between man and God, writes Fr Stuart P. Chalmers Blessed John Henry Newman is often quoted in relation to his toast to conscience and its dignity. However, at times the quote from his Letter to the Duke of Norfolk is misrepresented as if it were…
Irish nuns receive warm reception after releasing ‘soul-lifting’ song
Claire Fitzpatrick The Poor Clares in Galway have received a great confidence boost after releasing a devotional song on Youtube viewed by almost 15,000 people so far. ‘Calm the Soul’, based on a poem published by the Sisters in 2012, was composed to raise the spirits of those struggling under pressures of everyday life –…
The mark of a servile mind or one of family habit?
Notebook Is your priest punctual; does he start Mass on time? If he does, have you arrived by then? This issue arises in every parish in Ireland, where Mass can begin in one of three ways; a little early, bang on time, or a little (or a lot) late. There is a fourth possibility, which…
Time to re-discover John Henry Newman’s vision of education
One of the great weaknesses of contemporary debates in Ireland is that few of them penetrate beneath the surface. Too often discussions rest solidly on ideology rather than a shared search for understanding. Take education, as an example. It is increasingly obvious that the thrust of policy in this area is to ensure that schools…
‘Fear and anger’ in border parishes as Brexit chaos nears
Greg Daly and Chai Brady Priests in border parishes have said that anxiety is growing as the countdown to Brexit continues and the British government appear without any credible plan to stop chaos at the border. It comes amidst claims that the British are proposing a so-called buffer zone with checks on both sides…