Pope Francis’ September 11 meeting with Dominican Fr Gustavo Gutierrez was an informal one, held in the in the Pope’s residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, and not listed on his official schedule. Yet the news that Pope Francis had received the 85-year old Peruvian priest, who is widely considered the father of liberation theology, has…
Category: Comment & Analysis
Megaphone diplomacy in Church is unhelpful
David QuinnWhat is the role of the Catholic media? What is the role of the Catholic commentator? These questions are prompted by an address given by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin at a conference in Kilkenny last week. I suppose the same kind of questions can be answered to a certain extent by asking what is the…
Where will Pope Francis lead us?
Michael KellyThere was a time when it would not have been uncommon to walk into an Irish Catholic home and see two portraits hung above a mantelpiece held in equal esteem: Pope John XXIII and US President John F. Kennedy. After the austere Pope Pius XII, ‘Good Pope John’ as he quickly became known, was…
Can we learn from Charismatic Renewal?
Hands up, I never ‘joined’ the Charismatic Renewal. But my life has been impacted and touched by a great many people whose lives have been changed because of Charismatic Renewal. People of a certain age may recall the emergence of the Charismatic Renewal around Ireland. The influence of the Charismatic Renewal Movement and its…
Getting the Church ready for mission
The Church is missionary by its very nature: that is to say that Catholics should be constantly reaching out to others. One of the great calls of Pope Francis since his election has been for Catholics to step outside of ourselves, to go out to the margins. We have an enviable missionary tradition in…
Becoming God’s good servants
The summer now past, we come once again to what is in effect, for many, the beginning of a new year. It is an opportune time to ask, not only, ‘What am I doing?’, but the more fundamental question, ‘Who am I?’ We, who must live and labour in this secular world, but carry…
Does science make us good?
A number of stories have emerged in recent times revealing misconduct in science. But, perhaps things are better than they seem. A new study has just been published – Does Science Make you More Moral? – by social psychology researchers Christine Ma-Kellams and Jim Blascovich of the University of California Santa Barbara in the online journal…
500% increase in broken marriages
The number of Irish adults who have been through a broken marriage has increased by a massive 500% in the last 25 years. Last week The Iona Institute (which I head) issued a report called Marriage Breakdown and Family Structure in Ireland. The figures in it are drawn from Census 2011 and compare today…
Speaking up for the Catholic viewpoint
Catholic Comment launched in time for last year’s International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, with a mission to serve “both the Church and the media”: since then its speakers have taken part in over 90 radio and television interviews including on programmes such as Prime Time, The Frontline, Tonight with Vincent Browne, Ireland AM, Morning Edition,…
In spite of evil, God does continue to work
God writes straight with crooked lines. That axiom sounds clever, but is there real truth or depth to it? Can good ever really arise out of evil? Do love, truth, and justice ever work out through hatred, lies, and injustice? Do crooked lines really straighten?The answer to those questions will invariably be negative when we…