The COP26 climate summit in Glasgow is over and has widely been received as not having delivered enough. Climate activist Greta Thunberg lambasted the talks as a “failure”, echoing the sentiments of many commentators since the conference’s close. Climate fight The perceived failure of humanity’s ‘last, best hope’ in the climate fight is unlikely to…
The Birth of Jesus the Jew: Midrash and the Infancy Gospels by Peter Keenan (Columba Books, €14.99/£12.99) Peter Keenan is a man with a mission. He styles himself “a post-holocaust Christian”, and believes that the outlook of all Christians of every persuasion should be shaped by the fact of the Shoah. This has a bearing…
Advent, Advent ein lichtlein brennt… is a famous German saying, meaning “Advent, Advent a light is burning…” I used to love this time of the year, Advent, as a child but even more now as an adult because I learnt to appreciate the memories my parents created. The traditions around Advent are so wonderful. From…
The Archdiocese of New Orleans will pay more than $1 million in a settlement related to allegations of fraud in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the US Department of Justice announced. According to the US Department of Justice, the settlement “resolves allegations” that the Archdiocese of New Orleans “knowingly signed certifications for funding that contained…
Letters from Rome T.S. Eliot may well be the greatest of all American poets, and his 1925 poem “The Hollow Men” contains perhaps the most-quoted lines of any 20th century American literary work, usually by people who have no idea where the lines come from: “This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang…
Everyday Philosophy What do St Thomas Aquinas’s position on divine command theory and factory farming of animals have to do with each other? Plato’s Euthyphro dilemma asks whether things are good because God wills them, or whether God wills them because they are good. Divine command theory takes the first position: that the only thing…
Our greatest strength is often our greatest weakness. Sensitivity is a gift, but as any sensitive person will tell you, that gift can be a mixed blessing. Sometimes a thick, calloused skin can save you from a lot of suffering, particularly from heartache. The popular spiritual writer Henri Nouwen was a highly sensitive person. That…
This Christmas will be my first Christmas as a married person. Myself and my husband have still not decided where we will spend it but we are getting pressure from both families as to where we should be spending Christmas day. For some families, who is seated at their Christmas table on Christmas day is…
Pope Francis: Refugees are ending up in a ‘desert of humanity’ Pope Francis has said that refugees forced to flee their homes often end up in a “desert of humanity”. The Pope made the remark in a message celebrating the 40th anniversary of a Jesuit-run refugee centre in Rome. “The last 40 years of human history…
A Man of his Times: The Papers of Robert FitzGerald, 17th Knight of Kerry by Adrian FitzGerald (Kingdom Books) This is a valuable collection of the correspondence of Robert FitzGerald (1716-1781), knight of Kerry. The knights of Kerry belong to an early branch of the mighty Geraldines. There is uncertainty as to exactly how or…
Peter Costello
John L. Allen Jr.
Ben Conroy
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Wendy Grace