Sandra Adams The Assisted Human Reproduction Bill was passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas on June 27. The bill and its amendments legislate for In vitro Fertilisation (IVF), gamete and embryo donation, stem cell research and domestic and international surrogacy. People who seek to adopt children in Ireland are subject to stringent and…
Matt Letourneau Last Sunday, the recently appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin Paul Dempsey delivered a heartfelt prayer during the National Day of Commemoration. The event, taking place at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin, was one of seven ceremonies throughout the country honouring Irish men and women who fought and died in wars or the…
Matt Letourneau From the city’s monastic roots to the Reformation, Dublin’s identity has been enshrouded in religion since its founding. Although one might associate the city with Catholicism or Protestantism, another religion has played an immense role in Dublin’s history and culture: Judaism. Although their population is small and their numbers are dwindling, the Jewish…
Ava Westendorf According to a survey that the magazine National Geographic conducted, in 2023, over half a million people went on the pilgrimage of Camino de Santiago in Galicia, Spain. However, only 40% of these walkers were using this route for religious reasons. Due to an influx of fitness trends and people’s increased love for traveling,…
Martina Purdy In the 1950s, Americans would tune in to a popular game show called Truth or Consequences. Contestants were required to answer an almost impossible question accurately or perform a silly stunt. Answering truthfully often led to even more complicated questions, so contestants often skipped the truth part and opted for the consequences, however ridiculous, even…
Fr Gerry O’Hanlon SJ The second (and final) session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality convenes in Rome next October. Where are we at? Judging by the Irish response to the 2023 synthesis report, ‘Towards October 2024’ (May 2024), we are very much on track. In that…
Ava Westendorf A recent allocation of new beds to Irish hospitals is being called “a game-changer for all hospitals” by Fr John Kelly, the Director of Pastoral Care at Tallaght University Hospital. He claimed that he was “surprised but delighted” by the recent allocation of 196 new beds in the next 24 to 30 months…
Ava Westendorf On June 14, The Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin, was the home of an event created to celebrate the publication of the new book Theology and the University (Routledge, 2024). This book, edited by Fáinche Ryan, Josef Quitter and Dirk Ansorge, examines how “intellectual virtues are cultivated, which enable students to live well”. This…
Ava Westendorf The Irish Bishops have asked for people to send their prayers for those affected by the Israel/Hamas war, for hostages to be released, for humanitarian workers and for first responders. The bishops restated Pope Francis’s words by saying that this war is a “catastrophe for humanity” then followed with their own reiterated words,…
Dean Keating These recent elections were not the parting of the fog that many had hoped for or the endorsement of Government that the Taoiseach has claimed. At best, we can see a stagnation for all three major parties and a diversification of the Irish political spectrum, caused by a rejection of the Government’s more…