The protocols and safeguards for dealing with the challenge of Covid-19 should apply fairly across all sectors of society. There should be logic, coherence and consistency in both their formulation and application. That should be obvious but of course prejudice blinds and leads to anomalies and the singling out of certain groups for specified additional […]
Sometimes historical anniversaries throw up interesting items. Examples of irony perhaps, or maybe indications as to how much things have altered over the course of time. On Friday evening, Sinn Féin was the main political party which took part in what was effectively a picket of a Catholic Church in Ballyfermot. They and others may […]
After many skirmishes along the boundaries between Church and State, between traditional faith values and post-modern liberal ones, it appears the question of who should control the Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) in Irish schools may be the one to finally draw a hard, new line in the sand between goverement and hierarchy. The question […]
Every person committed to upholding Constitutional freedoms and every person of faith should opposed the Goverment’s draconian and provocative Regulation ( SI 171 of 2021) as an assault on religious freedom. Archbishop Eamon Martin has done a great service not alone to his flock but to democracy in pushing back strongly against this disingenuous and […]
During the course of a recent Dáil debate, Alan Kelly, the leader of the Labour party, suggested that the assets of those religious orders who were involved in the mother and baby homes should be seized in the event that they do not make a sufficient contribution to any compensation or redress scheme. He was […]
This is a new one on me, to be honest. I wasn’t aware Cardinals got a salary, as such, and certainly not anything this generous. If this Gript thing doesn’t work out, that’s my next career move, for sure: VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has ordered cardinals to take a 10 percent pay cut and […]
The Vatican’s latest affirmation of marriage as the lifelong union of one man and one woman is presented as an unfeeling even judgmental rejection of the love of same sex couples. It is however just a re-iteration of the Church’s well considered understanding of what Scripture and Jesus have to say on the subject. The […]
The Irish Bishops’ Conference has criticised the inertia of the government in addressing concerns of the religious in Ireland – a watershed moment as up to now, the Bishops have instructed priests across the country to adhere to Government restrictions. The Bishops have collectively, publicly, called on the Government to ease the restrictions on public […]
In an astonishing revelation, it has been claimed the Vatican actively intervened to prevent the release of a statement from US Bishops which was critical of Joe Biden’s policies of abortion ahead of the President’s inauguration. This ensured that a statement from Pope Francis, widely seen as a “warm blessing” for Biden, was firstly issued and made headlines. The Pillar […]
Obviously, he’s not literally a Protestant. You’d hope they’d have noticed that when they interviewed him for the job. But judging by this interview he gave to the Irish Times last week, he’s more a Henry VIII loyalist than a Thomas More man: Dublin’s Catholic archbishop-elect Dermot Farrell has said he would like to see […]
As Niamh pointed out here several weeks ago, those cancelling the Christmas are in good company. Cromwell would not be the sort of chap you would normally name check when issuing decrees. Nor would the Bolsheviks, Nazis and the current Chinese regime who have also attempted to out rightly suppress the most important celebration in […]
St. Colmán is referenced and presented in many different sources such as the Irish Annals, geneologies and martyrologies. Born around 530 AD, he is associated through Irish genealogy, with the leading ruling dynasty of Munster of the time, with the Éoganachta, centred in Cashel from the 6th – 10th centuries. Colmán is remembered as the […]