Health experts have, in the past, had ambiguous approaches to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – once called “venereal disease”, (after Venus, Roman love goddess). Some thought prevention could be assisted by shame and stigma, discouraging people from risking infection by promiscuous relationships. And undoubtedly some preachers portrayed “VD” as a punishment for sexual sins. Yet…
Given the content of most horror films, it’s not always a genre easily squared with the Catholic tradition. However, there is one horror film on the Vatican’s list of 45 significant films – Nosferatu (1922). The film is director FW Murnau’s unauthorised adaptation of Dracula and an important trend-setter in the realm of horror cinema.…
Speaking in an interview with the US Students for Life organisation, childhood star Alexa PenaVega described how she helped to save a baby from abortion. Best known for her role as Carmen Cortez in the popular Spy Kids film series, Ms PenaVega revealed that a “well-known” man on Instagram reached out to her for help…
Earlier this month, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said that 8,500 women had availed of abortion services in Ireland in 2022. He sounded pretty pleased about the numbers, even though, if he is correct, it would represent an enormous jump in the number of babies being killed by abortion. In fact, it would represent a…
“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire,” our saint of the week is regularly quoted as saying. St Catherine of Siena certainly lived according to that maxim, so much so that not only is she a saint, she’s recognised as an esteemed ‘Doctor of the Church’ and…
In their young lives, adolescents are far more likely to have suffered the worst kind of sexual assault than much older women who have seen far more of life, writes David Quinn There is a widespread idea that as Ireland becomes more liberal, it is almost becoming a kinder, gentler place. The evidence in favour…
The Wisdom of Pope Benedict XVI Without God man neither knows which way to go, nor even understands who he is. In the face of the enormous problems surrounding the development of peoples, which almost make us yield to discouragement, we find solace in the sayings of our Lord Jesus Christ, who teaches us: “Apart…
Pro-life advocates across Ireland will gather in Dublin this bank holiday Monday to “push back” against extreme abortion measures and call for “positive supports for women in unplanned pregnancy”. The Pro Life Campaign’s ‘March For Life’ takes place on May 1 at 2pm, marching from St Stephen’s Green south (outside Newman University Church) to Leinster…
Bishop Brendan Leahy has met with Vatican officials to discuss Mary Immaculate College’s (MIC) “closer structural alignment” with University of Limerick. Bishop Leahy, chairperson of MIC’s trustees, met with Archbishop Angelo Zani, outgoing Secretary of Congregation for Catholic Education, and Msgr Victor Boyle in Rome to update them on developments at MIC last year, minutes…
Uproar! Satire, Scandal and Printmakers in Georgian London, by Alice Loxton (Icon Books, £25.00). Felix M. Larkin When Martyn Turner skewers today’s politicians in his cartoons for The Irish Times, he is following in a rich tradition of visual satire that stretches back into the late 18th Century. The early years of such satire in…
Mary Kenny
Ruadhán Jones
David Quinn