The more speaking engagements I do, the more convinced I am of the important role parents play in their teenagers sexual education…in fact, every part of their lives. As a parent of teenagers myself, I feel ‘in the thick’ of it every day; the emotions of their stage of life, the joy and pain, the Read more
Schoolboys will be schoolboys, but parents can be their own worst enemies. Bravo to St Bede’s College Rector, Justin Boyle, for standing firm on the school’s code of conduct. Breaching airport security, by illegally taking a ride on a luggage carousel into the secure area is no trifling matter. The two roguish rowers who did Read more
What makes for a happy home? Is it having plentiful sofas, nice neighbours, or perhaps super-fast Wi-Fi? Believe it or not, they all make the list according to a recent study cited on the Be Home Blog. As well as some (perhaps more surprising?) factors which would seem to make for less family time, but Read more
Having your child bullied at school is one of the greatest fears of parents – and research shows this fear is well founded. School bullying has been described as the single most important threat to the mental health of children and adolescents. Well-controlled studies show that being bullied in primary school increases the risk of serious mental health problems into adolescence and ongoing depression leading Read more
I’m a solo, surrogate parent to a now 9 month old baby girl, 30 hours a week. Her parents have both returned back to the workforce, so I’ve been hired to go into the family home, and look after Molly four days a week. She’s cute, it has to be said. Like, super cute. Especially Read more
While in Dublin recently, I stopped by the Jesuit community at Milltown to meet a man who had once taught Scripture in a huge college outside Buenos Aires, which was at that time run by the man who is now pope. Father James Kelly recalls the regime at the Colegio Maximo in the early 1980s Read more
On Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18, Pope Francis outlined a program for Lent in his homily, using for his inspiration the readings of the day from Book of Joel, Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, and the Gospel of Matthew. Some of the themes correlate well with films that tell stories that foster reflection, conversation and Read more
It’s hard to convince people gripped by today’s mood of secular gloom that The Sound of Music is a work of abiding artistic genius. The cynic will recall a saccharine musical stretched over almost three hours, involving singing nuns, an impromptu pyjama party, puppet shows and the mawkish strains of Edelweiss. All this soppy madness Read more
I like stories. Whether it’s a program on EWTN, or a homily, or an article, I like the saga of how some Catholic figure dealt with a challenge. It could be a story about converting the barbarians, or some primitive people, or of a modern man being thrown into prison while facing a seemingly impossible situation. Regardless, I will remember Read more
Pope Francis has made no secret of his conviction that human-induced climate change, along with other forms of environmental degradation, represents a grave threat to humanity’s future. At times he even speaks in quasi-apocalyptic terms: “Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world!” His forthcoming “ecological encyclical” Read more