Recently I was one of a number of Irish bishops who paid a short visit to Ethiopia to see the work that Trócaire is undertaking there. Founded in 1973 by the Irish Bishops Conference in line with Pope Paul VI’s 1967 encyclical Populorum Progressio, Trócaire’s mission is to give concrete expression to the Church’s social…
As pilgrims of hope in a synodal Church, we need to talk urgently about ministerial priesthood. We need to courageously face up to the crisis of very few priests that will be in the Irish Church of the future and the consequences of this reality. In doing so, there are two extremes to avoid. The…
Counting down to 2025, an old child’s riddle came to mind: “What time is it when the clock strikes thirteen?” The answer is obvious: “Time to buy a new clock!” Though frankly, if it had been reported on RTE that the clock in Times Square had struck thirteen, as 2024 expired, would any of us…
I didn’t know what subjects to study when I started at UCG in 1988. I tried out different classes in first year and settled on English and French for the degree. I had a nagging regret through in my second year that I hadn’t taken Gaeilge. But there were other ways to improve at Irish,…
Respect for human dignity is why I am in politics. I was early out of the blocks to oppose the Government’s attempt to dilute respect for ‘mothers’ in the Irish Constitution and to equate ‘marriage’ with ‘other durable relationships’. This Bill had passed through the Dáil with the minimum of scrutiny. Not so in…
It has come to my attention – that’s to say, I admit of my former ignorance – that the Church has had a Syrian Pope. He was Gregory III and he came to the seat of Peter in 731, ruling for ten years. He sounds like a good egg: he was an “able and eloquent…
As we have just emerged from the turn-of-year celebrations, I thought it fitting to end on a more positive note that’s in keeping with the season. We live in a time where not even the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, will mention the indisputable reason for the season. Contained on the official Christmas…
Even though I didn’t experience it, early 1990s Ireland seemed to a time of great cultural and behavioural flux. Poring over documents in the archives I got an unmistakable sense that this was one of the most defining periods in Ireland in terms of the island’s widespread disavowal of life through a Christian lens and…
A joint initiative of the Irish embassy and members of various Irish communities in Rome, the ‘Ireland in Rome Map’ will act as a guide for Irish pilgrims to Rome during the Jubilee year and includes historical and religious sites associated with Ireland and significant people in Irish history. The map details 12 sites across…
France has long been admired – notably in the English-speaking world – as a society which has a much more “sophisticated”, even “civilised’ approach to love and sex. I once very much bought into these legends myself – especially after reading, as a teenager, the novels and biographies of Nancy Mitford. Why, the French accepted…
Martina Purdy
Senator Ronan Mullen
Mary Kenny
Brandon Scott