I remember my mother, before she died, warning me to fill out the list of the dead each November. And so every year I faithfully sit down and think of those I have known, those who have died in the last year and those who have passed my path in life. It can be a…

An Irish stonemason, with little education, became one of the great evangelists of the last century. And his story is now entwined with the famous American bishop Robert Barron, himself the son of Irish emigrants, whose Word on Fire network has gone global. I heard the story at St Comgall’s School on the Falls Road…

As the politicians of Ireland take to the streets in preparation for the forthcoming election, the fallout and post-election analysis from the US continues. A resounding victory for President Elect Donald Trump, and ignominious defeat for current Vice President Kamala Harris, have made for pages and pages of political post-mortems. While there are major differences…

Irish politicians may well be looking warily on the US election results as they move into the race for power.  There can be no doubt that Donald Trump won the election because he was listening to what mattered to the people of the United States, and planning to address their very real concerns which echo…

It is as though the two referendums in March never happened, that is, the one on so-called ‘durable relationships’, and the other on removing the protection the Constitution tries to give to mothers in the home. That second one was long the target of feminist groups in Ireland, above all the lavishly State-funded National Women’s…

Here’s a fascinating theme: “Family Values: the Catholic Church and the Mafia”. This was the subject of Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith’s address at last week’s Catholic Writers’ Guild in London. Fr Alexander, born in Malta, is knowledgeable about Sicilian (and Calabrian society), and has written several novels intertwining the Mafia, the local priesthood, and the people.…

I was honoured to speak at a ‘Catholic Careers Summit’ for young people recently in Dublin’s Larkhill-Whitehall parish. This event brought young adult Catholics together to think about their careers in the context of their faith. What would be the challenges for living their faith while practising their chosen profession? And what opportunities might their work offer to bring themselves…

As I am writing this column, the final ballots in the US election are yet to be cast. The result appears to be hanging in the balance, with polls suggesting that those favouring one candidate over the other are almost evenly divided. Like many observers, I have watched with interest the somewhat tumultuous nature of…