Dear Editor, Mary Kenny in her article on St Brigid’s many adaptations by various elements in society refers to St Joan of Arc, who has suffered the same treatment [The Irish Catholic – February 1, 2024]. The great Pucelle of France has been adapted by some unlikely groups from war mongers to radical feminists. Joan…
This American author ought to be on the Faithful’s radar, writes Russell Shaw Flannery O’Connor was not an evangelist. She was an artist, one of the most gifted American fiction writers of the 20th Century. But a profoundly Catholic theological vision informs her art, giving her stories resonance and depth that sound deep – and…
Bulwarks of Unbelief: Atheism and Divine Absence in a Secular Age by Joseph Minich, foreword by Carl R. Trueman (Lexham Press, €25/ $29 / £21) How did we, in the West, move from a world in which belief in God was the default position to one in which it is an option among others? Charles Taylor’s The…
Walking through the park on a brisk winter morning, I glance at the car park near the playground and notice a colourful van. I see big letters on its side panel: “Worry First”. Wait a minute. I look again. Actually, it says “Worry Free,” the slogan of a utility company’s appliance service. I chuckle. I’ve…
Q. In watching The Chosen, I noted a couple of demoniac episodes were included, as are in fact depicted in Scripture. No CGI effects were done to show the demons either going in or coming out of the victims, making the healed person seem to simply be someone with personality disorders. What does the Church…
Silvio Cuellar This February, we celebrate Valentine’s Day, the day of love and friendship. February 14 is also Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. At first glance, many will think that we will not be able to celebrate with our partners, but there are interesting parallels between true love as a couple and Lent. During…
Dear Editor, I write as others have already done to express my gratitude to Michael Kelly for his many years of dedicated service as editor of this paper. I wrote several letters during the unquestionable lockdown period and found any dealings I had with Michael Kelly very helpful and supportive. I am glad he continues…
Is this new or are we just more aware of it? Hatred and contempt are everywhere. They are in our government houses, in our communities, in our churches and in our families. We are struggling, mostly without success, to be civil with each other, let alone to respect each other. Why? Why is this happening…
Tim Pat Coogan, my former boss as editor of the Irish Press, singles out in his book Ireland in the Twentieth Century, Sean Lemass and TK Whitaker as “hinge” figures between the “old” and the “new” Irelands that emerged in the early 1960s. Lemass, one of the original architects of the Fianna Fáil policy…
While praying in our pew after Communion during a recent Sunday Mass, our 6-year-old son decided to administer a pop quiz to his willing little sister. “What was the first tabernacle?” he asked. “I have no idea,” she replied. “Mary, of course! Her tummy held Jesus for the first time,” he answered. “But what was…