When I first heard that people were being paid as much as €300 to cover the cost of their children's communion ceremonies, I thought it was a joke. What?  At [...]

Sometimes, life is its own satire and there's no point  adding anything, because to do so would be superfluous. Last night, we had such a moment when Ratzinger pointed out [...]

A parishioner suggested to me the other day that I should take advantage of the recent technological advances on the "internet" by setting up a "Priest-Cam". I think this is [...]

Over a civilised pint this evening, people happened to mention their big fat Catholic childhood.  This was not something I personally experienced, but all my friends did, which might explain [...]

There was a time when Planet Ireland orbited its own smug, self-satisfied star, held on course by a mysterious force known as certainty.  That was an era when Irish missionaries [...]

This is the full text of the Raphoe Report  

Not content with finding the Virgin Mary in a tree stump, they've now found Jesus in the Cliffs of Moher. I kid you not.  According to an Irish Central report, [...]

What do the Holy See and East Timor have in common? That's right — the Irish government doesn't give a flying toss about either of them.  Both embassies are to [...]

They locked them up. They beat them. They starved them. They used their labour for a profit. And in the end, they denied everything, just like their kind always does. [...]

I can think of nothing to add to the Irish government's statement on the Holy See's legalistic, dishonest and self-serving comments last week.  It signals clearly that the time has [...]