Catholic Church
How well does the Catholic church understand its own teaching on abortion?
Tweet This is well worth noting before it passes over us, on the question of abortion in the south. James P Mackey is visiting professor at the school of religions and theology at Trinity College. And he’s been looking back at some of his old Catholic textbooks from Maynooth: The Roman Catholic hierarchy has formally [...] more »
A manifesto for enlightened Catholicism
Tweet From the always inspiring Hans Kung, one of two surviving theologians of Vatican 2, the other being Joseph Ratzinger. True ecumenism. One shouldn’t be misled by the media hype of grandly staged papal mass events or by the wild applause of conservative Catholic youth groups. Behind the facade, the whole house is crumbling. In this [...] more »
Catholic Church is struggling with serial exposure of its private values more than homosexuality
Tweet Fintan O’Toole hits the nail on the head over Keith O’Brien, and the church’s problematic stand on homosexuality (no sniggering Anglicans and etc others, please)… …in the end, the church’s double life in relation to homosexuality is just cruel. Some priests manage maintaining two different personas very well. Some perhaps even take a kind [...] more »
Pope Benedict XVI: “with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome”
Tweet For anyone seriously concerned with his “legacy”, the surprise announcement by Pope Benedict XVI, of his intention to renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome “as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours”, deserves a more considered approach. For example, following on from his initial response, at the Telegraph Blogs Damian Thompson reproduces the [...] more »
Home Rule, Rome Rule and Gay Marriage
Tweet Last September, Unionists paraded in their tens of thousands through Belfast to celebrate the centenary of the Ulster Covenant. From the days of Lilibullero in the 17th Century, Ulster Protestantism has always had a particular genius for summing up its political causes in easily remembered ditties and catchphrases. Perhaps the easiest slogan to remember [...] more »
The moment of quickening
Tweet Patsy McGarry has an interesting article in the Irish Times today on the surprisingly fluid nature of the Catholic Church’s stance on abortion: … some of the church’s greatest teachers and saints believed no homicide was involved if abortion took place before the foetus was infused with a soul, known as “ensoulment”. This was [...] more »
Catholic Post-Primary Education Reform: “I am anxious to try to build consensus on the way forward”
Tweet Following on from the Northern Ireland Commission for Catholic Education (NICCE) belated publication of its Post-Primary Review Strategic Regional Report, individual dioceses are bringing forward their suggestions. The first one out of the blocks appears to concern Catholic maintained schools in Londonderry. The Derry Diocese Administrator, Monsignor Eamon Martin, has published “Together Towards Tomorrow – a discussion paper [...] more »
Why did the Vatican think a mere “study document” was sufficient response?
Tweet The Vatican’s response to Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s power Dail speech has finally dropped on the mat. It’s quite a lengthy and detailed response (full text for those with the time). Unsurprisingly it rejects Kenny’s assertion that the Vatican was at fault. As Siobhan Brett notes in the Sunday Business Post: The Vatican response takes [...] more »
Clerical abuse also relied upon the scarcity of “righteous gentiles”
Tweet Dermot Keogh examines the diplomatic ramifications of the taoiseach’s speech, not least the wider consequences for both the Vatican and Ireland. But he leaves his sharpest question until the end: In reviewing the history of the past 90 years on this island, why – confronted by such widespread child sexual abuse – were there [...] more »
Financial crisis hits the Catholic Church…
Tweet It’s not often I get to Mass in my home parish of Holywood, but I was there last Sunday. A number of things struck me. One is that attenders are mostly of the older demographic, with, by and large, my own 70s generation taking up the rear. And two, that the collections are proportionally [...] more »
Taoiseach’s speech: An end to ‘Never explain, never apologise’?
Tweet The papers are full of the taoiseach’s speech to the Dail yesterday. Rightly so. It was an audacious speech, and one made in stark contrast to the parliamentary mumbling and stumbling of the two previous taoisigh. And, importantly, it was a defence of thousands upon thousands of ordinary Catholics, ‘who have been shocked and [...] more »
Taoiseach’s speech: This is not Rome… this is a republic of laws
Tweet A sea-change in Irish government-Catholic Church relations took place yesterday. In the government’s official response to the Cloyne Report, Taoiseach Enda Kenny gave an unprecedented speech to the Dáil, excoriating the Vatican for its efforts to block co-operation with the investigation by civil authorities of clerical child abuse: … for the first time in [...] more »
The abuse crisis is no excuse for anti-Catholic bigotry
Tweet The Scottish composer James MacMillan has composed a congregational Mass for the Blessed John Henry Newman which is to be featured at the venues of the Pope’s forthcoming visit to Great Britain. No surprise there. But what’s novel I think, is that MacMillan, unusually for a composer, is a bold controversialist and an unorthodox [...] more »
“The Cardinal said that he knew that the priest was a very bad man…”
Tweet The Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, Al Hutchison, has published the findings of his “investigation into how the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) dealt with their suspicions that a Catholic priest was allegedly involved in the bombing of Claudy in County Londonderry on 31 July 1972, in which nine people were killed and more than 30 [...] more »
Call for Catholic Church to release Claudy information
Tweet Gregory Campbell has called on the Catholic Church to release any files it may have on the Claudy bombing. Campbell has pointed to the recent fact that Bishop Noel Treanor has called for an enquiry into the events of 1972 in Ballymurphy and has released the Church’s documents pertaining to that episode. The Claudy [...] more »
Catholic Church: the lobby and its fear of the public square
Tweet It has to be the strangest pairing in the Blogosphere, but my old Telegraph colleague, Damian “the blood-crazed ferret” Thompson has taken rather a shine to old Splintered lately… mostly for his acute observation of the politics of the high end of the English Catholic Church… Almost at random here’s a particularly interesting snippet [...] more »
McGuinness: Archbishop Martin is providing a way forward..
Tweet Deputy First Minister Martin Mc Guinness looks to Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to lead the catholic church out of the grip of child abuse scandals. Mr Mc Guinness has spoken for the first time since Cardinal Sean Brady said he is not quitting. Northern Ireland’s deputy First Minister has thrown his weight behind the [...] more »
Cardinal Brady calls for an independent statutory body in the south
Tweet Will Crawley has the full statement from Cardinal Brady outlining why he is staying on in his post and what he proposes to do about child sex abuse within the church. In effect, in Northern Ireland, he is accepting that the state will have the final say: I have asked the Child Safeguarding staff [...] more »
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Books
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Death of Dolours Price – opens up possibility that her taped oral history will be published (or not)
Tweet Dolours Price – sister, mother, bomber, prisoner and a thorn in Gerry Adams’ side – died in her Malahide home on Wednesday night. The Guardian’s Ireland correspondent Henry McDonald writes: Price was involved in a car bombing at the Old Bailey in 1973, which injured more than 200 people and may have led to [...] read our review » -
The Creative Class and Northern Ireland
Tweet As part of NICVA’s series of masterclasses from its Centre for Economic Empowerment project, there was a morning seminar on the topic of the “creative class” (as popularised by Richard Florida) and its applicability to Northern Ireland. The agenda was to: Explain Richard Florida’s idea of the “creative class” and the link between economic [...] read our review »
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Propaganda of Peace: Media and culture during the peace process
Tweet Extract from Greg McLaughlin and Stephen Baker: The Propaganda of Peace: The Role of Media and Culture in the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Bristol: Intellect Books. 2010. Political opponents Ian Paisley and Martin McGuiness were confirmed as First Minister and Deputy First Minister of a new executive in May 2007, closing yet another chapter [...] read our review »
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