Category: Opinion

Anyone familiar with the life and writings of Simone Weil will, I am sure, agree that she was a woman of exceptional faith. She was also a woman with an unwavering commitment to the poor. But, and this may seem anomalous, she was also exceptional and unwavering in a certain resistance she had towards the…

Dear Editor, – Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them (Shakespeare). A great man has passed in the person of Fr Alec Reid – though his characteristic humility would’ve undoubtedly seen him embarrassed as such sentiment. In a world that lauds multimillionaire football players and loose-living celebrities…

Dear Editor, I found the Gospel message this week very life giving in a time when many in our Church are on the defensive and very angry. Luke 21:5-19 V.14 Jesus says “Keep this carefully in mind you are not to prepare your defence because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom…

Dear Editor, Your front page coverage of Pope Francis’ warning on the plight of Christians in the Middle East (Danger of Christian ‘extinction’ in Mid-East, IC 21/11/13) reveals a sad, not to say disturbing reality in what our current Pope represents to Western observers and the media which has been so keen on the so-called…

Dear Editor, It is good that Sister Julie Rose of Roscrea has commented as she did on the portrayal of religious sisters in a recent film. We should expect that the Catholic Church as a whole would have come to the defence of sisters, brothers, clergy and others who acted honourably in the service of…

Dear Editor, After the death of Pope Pius XII in 1959, the Kennedy Directory USA, now the Official Catholic Directory, published the following statistics in relation to his 19 year Pontificate from 1939 until his death in 1958. In 1939 the number of archdioceses in the USA numbered 19, in 1958 they numbered 26 an…