In text messages released this past May, the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson described watching an online video of some Trump supporters beating a protestor around the time of the January 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. “It was three against one, at least … jumping a guy like that is dishonourable, obviously. “It’s Read more
Natural law has been used to restrict LGBTQ people, according to Fr James Alison, an influential Catholic priest, theologian and writer. Alison (pictured) commented in a recent virtual conversation on the website ‘Outreach’ in its monthly series of virtual talks ‘Outspoken.’ In the conversation with Fr James Martin, SJ, Alison discussed natural law and conscience, Read more
Last Sunday at Mass, the Parish Priest, a sensible, experienced man, mentioned that next week we’d have First Communion, and increased numbers of people were expected at Mass. Then he smiled and said: ‘We probably won’t see them again the following week, but that’s OK.’ I was pleased to hear that. It is of the Read more
Marking the opening of the new legal year in October, the Vatican’s diplomatic representative in Ireland, Archbishop Jude Okolo, reminded legal practitioners that justice “rests on respect for human rights, assuring that people’s natural and objective rights are not trampled upon”. Indeed, the institution Archbishop Okolo represents displays a breathtaking disrespect for human rights, trampling Read more
A priest in the United States has barred a life long parishoner and married lesbian from receiving Holy Communion. Fr Scott Nolan recently informed Kent County District Court Judge Sara Smolenski she should not receive communion at his church. The Diocese of Grand Rapids said it supports the decision. “No community of faith can sustain the Read more
Saints don’t fit into the usual categories of right and left, conservative and liberal. This is certainly the case with Newman, a 19th-century English intellectual giant and Catholic priest who at the height of his very considerable public renown left a distinguished post at Oxford to start a school and work among the poor of Read more
When people today hear that John Henry Newman is being named a saint, the first question that likely comes to mind is: What can I take away from the example of a 19th-century priest and intellectual? Not only did he live in a very different time, but his day-to-day existence was quite different from what Read more
I didn’t hear the word lesbian until I went to university. In my childhood, homosexuality was not discussed: not at home, not at church, not at school. I’m sure there were homosexual people in my classroom or community. Possibly even in my extended family. But they were not ‘out’. Even the prevailing culture did not Read more
New Zealand’s approach to the issue of how to allow for GPs who conscientiously object to providing abortion services may provide the basis for how such services are provided in Ireland. Ireland’s National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) and their health minister Simon Harris have appeared at loggerheads after the doctors’ group said that onward referral Read more
Irish hospitals that receive government money will be expected to carry out abortions when new abortion laws come into effect. This includes hospitals with a Catholic character, the Irish prime minister says. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar says doctors, nurses and midwives could opt out of performing procedures on conscience grounds. If they want to keep Read more