Dear Editor, As the worldwide Catholic family mourns the death of its spiritual leader, Pope Francis, it is important to examine his legacy on current issues. He is rightly remembered for his 2015 landmark encyclical “Laudato Si” which focused on care for the environment, justice for the marginalised and activism to save the planet. Included…
Throughout the Troubles, when buses were being burned or hijacked in Belfast, the Black taxi became a popular way of getting in and out of town. Men, women and children from the west of the city, often five or six at a time, would pile into the back seats, prams in the boot, and fly…
A major new survey from Britain shows there is a mini-religious revival underway in that country. For the first time since anyone can remember, the survey shows that the number of young people attending church on a regular basis, that is, monthly or more, is on the increase. This challenges the long-standing idea that eventually…
My colleague was not impressed with my attacks on Church authorities, as he saw it. “Isn’t it bad enough that you’re having a go at our poor bishops,” said he, “without taking potshots at the Holy Father as well.” He had read my musings on Rome’s appointment of non-local priests to dioceses and was not…
Here’s a thing: I really would like to hear a sermon on the tangled issue of finance. It could be called ‘the moral maze of money.’ What are we to make of waking up each morning to the heated discussions about ‘the markets’? We tremble to hear that the Nikkei (Japan) has crashed, the Hang…
A quiet country retreat in County Down last week began rather unexpectedly when my friend and I spotted a sheep caught in some wire at the edge of a field. A couple of city slickers, we were a bit hesitant. But my friend was concerned enough to knock on a local door that Saturday evening.…
Last weekend, the news broke that disgraced former cardinal and archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick had died on April 3. The former cardinal was laicised by Pope Francis in February 2019, following revelations of his serial sexual molestation of male teenagers and adult seminarians. For those unfamiliar with his history, as his name suggests, McCarrick…
One of the most hostile political parties towards the Catholic Church in Ireland today is the Social Democrats. When the announcement was made that the National Maternity Hospital was moving to a new location alongside St Vincent’s hospital, there was outrage in certain quarters because at that point St Vincent’s was still linked to the…
We are now a quarter of the way into the Jubilee Year of Hope. Our church banners remind us that we are in a special time. Some parishioners have already made the pilgrimage to Rome, and others may go in the months ahead. But I sometimes wonder: if I asked the average Catholic—perhaps even a…
Dear Editor, Felix M. Larkin’s review of Edward Burke’s Ghosts of a Family, on who perpetrated the McMahon killings in Belfast in March 1922, points to a fascinating piece of historical detective work. It made me want to read the book. A caveat, however. Larkin’s characterising systemic attacks on northern nationalist communities, by forces of the…
Martina Purdy
David Quinn
Mary Kenny
Maria Steen