Last Sunday the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus marked the end of the Christmas period. Jesus moved from his private life – the carpenter son of Mary and Joseph – into his brief public life: the three short years of his ministry. We are told, “while Jesus after his own baptism was at prayer,…
Pope Francis, on January 9 speaking to the members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, raised the issue of fake news. “We see increasingly polarised societies, marked by a general sense of fear and distrust of others and of the future, which is aggravated by the continuous creation and spread of fake news.…
Like many readers of this paper I grew up in an era where the depiction of nuns on screen was generally positive. I’m talking about films like Heaven Knows, Mr Allison (1957), The Bells of Saint Marys (1945), Black Narcissus (1947) and so on. I once wrote in these pages of an interview I conducted…
Her name was Luca, but her family called her Pearl, and she was one of eight children born into the Henry family in Charlestown, Co. Mayo. Her parents came from a line of teachers whose legacy could be traced to 1844 and the “hedge schools” where the poorest in society got an informal education. In…
I signed up for this… in the name of the local GAA club as part of a national fundraising event where a club might gain some prize money if its members and friends can walk 4000km during a five-week window of opportunity. In honesty and more personally, I signed up because I know I need…
Dear Editor, I had a short review in Books of the Year in The Irish Catholic of Up from the Ashes [The Irish Catholic – December 12, 2024]. I just want to draw attention to how certain minorities in Syria are fearful for their security and very lives under their new rulers, the HTS. Before…
I suppose one of the most reviled stereotypes by liberal progressives is the “trad wife”. This is the figure of the woman who stays at home to care for her family, preside over the kitchen and mealtime, and manage the household. There used to be, in Ireland long ago, popular entertainments which actually rewarded this…
It has not been receiving much coverage here, but over in Britain a major row has been taking place over the refusal by the British Government to order a national inquiry into the rape of thousands of underage girls in towns across Britain by men of mostly Pakistani background. Typing the last few words of…
In modern culture, it is still fashionable for reporters to be dispatched to hospitals to find the first-born of 2025. Children, whether the media admits it or not, remain the world’s most valuable resource. “The best hope for the future,” was how former Irish American President, John F. Kennedy, put it. And so, north of…
Notes in haste – An Irish Pastor writes is a new monthly series detailing the busy lives of Irish parish priests We ran out of hosts at Midnight Mass. Any priest in Ireland will understand what that would feel like. And it can happen so easily. We all know that the Christmas Eve Mass is…
Nuala O’Loan
Aubrey Malone
Martina Purdy
Mary Kenny
David Quinn