Category: Editorials

Pope Francis is barely six months in office and his pontificate is having a remarkable effect on people both inside and outside the Church. The Holy Father has an extraordinary ability to find simple words to pose fundamental questions about the world in which we live, about the Church and about the life of faith.…

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The fact that peace is more than the absence of war is so self-evident it hardly seems worthwhile pointing out. Nevertheless, the truism bears repeating in the particular context of the Northern peace process.   By any objective measure the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and the ceasefires that precipitated the accord have been a stunning…

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Pope Francis called for dialogue and reconciliation in Syria on Saturday as he led a peace vigil in St Peter’s square and millions of Catholics worldwide were joined by other faiths in a day of fasting and prayer.   “In beloved Syria, in the Middle East, in all the world, let us pray for reconciliation…

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Institutional religion never reformed itself

  Editor’s Comment Garry O’Sullivan   Prophetic voices are often lauded in the abstract but when they appear in reality they are more likely to be ignored, sidelined and generally scoffed at. The retiring Dean of St Patrick’s was one of those few prophetic voices in any of the Christian churches on this island —…

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Lifting the fog

  Garry O’ Sullivan   When it comes to the Irish Church, everyone can diagnose the problems but few, if any, have outlined a sound path to a cure — it is the fog of our times, everybody knows what should have been done in the past but there is little vision for the future.…

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