RSS
Opinion Columnists



RSS
OPINION COLUMNISTS
RSS
Eddie Holt
Eddie Holt
Thirty years after Papal visit to Ireland, the Catholic Church is in dire straits

Eddie Holt: The Pope called to Ireland in 1979. He had never come here before, despite Ireland’s reputation as “the greatest little Catholic country on Earth”. I was in London but I watched most of the scenes that greeted his arrival. Thirty years later, the Catholic Church is in rag order. Were the current Pope – Benedict XVI – to visit Ireland, he could not expect crowds like his predecessor Pope John Paul II. FULL STORY >


RSS
Father TIm
Father TIm
Virgin Mary was in Ireland, but Irish Catholic Church was missing in action

Father Tim: Somewhere in Ireland right now, there are some sadly misguided Irish Catholic priests who are probably just plain dee-lighted that thousands of the faithful went home in disappointment from the Knock Shrine without having seen the Blessed Virgin Mary appear. FULL STORY >


RSS
John Spain
John Spain
Ireland's schools log on to the future - slowly

John Spain: There's nothing like a recession to concentrate the mind! One of my kids is at the stage in school where he has to make choices about the subjects he wants to do in the Leaving Cert, the exam that Irish kids do before they leave school and either go on to university or out into the world of work. Or maybe that should be the world of unemployment. FULL STORY >


RSS
Kelly's Corner
Kelly Fincham
Roy Keane calls on Ireland to get over World Cup soccer mess, says FAI is whining

Oh dear. Looks like my favorite Irish soccer player-turned-manager Roy Keane is about to get another pasting in Ireland after he blasted the FAI for complaining about Ireland's exit from the World Cup. "France are going to the World Cup," said former Irish captain Roy Keane said today. "Get over it. They (the FAI) want sympathy as usual. It is the usual carry-on and it is boring.” FULL STORY >


RSS
Tim Pat Coogan
Tim Pat Coogan
In the wake of the Pope

Tim Pat Coogan: “What should I do with the cow’s teat”, inquired the interviewer from the Newstalk Radio station covering the recent National Ploughing Championships. “Squeeze it gently”, replied the lady agricultural instructor evenly,” as though it were your willy.” In all sorts of ways that exchange, and the generally amused reaction to it, encapsulates the difference between to-day’s Ireland and that which existed at the time of the pope’s visit 30 years ago. FULL STORY >







remember me on this computer
forget your password?     
IrishCentral.com is also home to Irish Voice and Irish America magazine