An artist who stabbed a man to death is having two of his paintings exhibited at the Ulster Museum in Belfast. Although no stranger to brawling and prison, powerful connections enabled his notorious behaviour for years; and his talent for producing psychologically complex, deeply spiritual masterpieces helped sustain him. At present, there is a steady…
As I crossed the Boyne Peace Bridge, en route to the pro-life rally in Dublin the other day, an old tale sprang to mind: King Billy, fresh from the battle, was crossing the river, when the boatman asked: “Who won?” And King Billy retorted: “Why do you care? You will still be a boatman”. These…
Speaking to The Irish Catholic at the Rally for Life in Dublin, Bishop Phonsie Cullinan said politicians had opened the floodgates to abortion despite promising “repeatedly” that it would be “safe, legal and rare”. “Well I would say two things about that. They are not safe for the baby and they are certainly not…
A baby was screaming rather loudly at Mass the other day – so loudly from the church porch that the priest’s final blessing was being drowned out. So, he paused, smiled widely, and declared: “When I hear a child crying in church, I know the Church has a future. And it always does.” But sadly,…
A man walked into a bank (a true story), and was met with a Pride flag at the teller’s station. Before concluding his business, this man, a Catholic, unbit his lip. “I just want to say that if you want to have these flags, that’s fine. But I want equal time at Easter. And I…
If you hate the thought of more hate legislation, brace yourself. There’s a fresh push to deal with ‘hate crimes’ north of the border, despite controversies in the Dail and elsewhere, over this kind of law. It’s a noble aim to stamp out hatred and prejudice. But how far can the law go to achieve…
The new Bishop of Down and Connor has celebrated Mass at the place where St Patrick landed in Ireland almost 1600 years ago. Bishop Alan McGuckian chose to go to Slieve Patrick, also known as Saul Mountain, Co. Down, to celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi and Day 4 of his new novena to the…
Knock and the door shall be opened to you!” is an oft-quoted scripture. But it can be a tricky process for candidates seeking a vote at election time. An old politician’s trick, to avoid unpleasantness, was to hang back on the footpath while canvassers knocked the door. Years ago, I heard a story from a…
Not long after I quit the BBC for the convent, a few of my former colleagues came around for tea and biscuits. So for a bit of craic, I wheeled the convent tea trolley into the parlour and did my best Mrs Doyle accent: “You will, you will, you will!” We all enjoyed the joke!…
I was led down the garden path the other day – at Knock Shrine of all places! There’s a new Creation Walk about to be launched on May 25. It’s a celebration of God’s grandeur, 30 signposts, each marked living word. It begins with The Birth of the Cosmos 13.8 billion years ago and the…