Occasional Scribbles

Germany plans a political boycott of Euro2012 in support of Timoschenko.

On this date in 1945 Hitler was no more. The world and Europe could breathe again. The world was freed from a period of unspeakble evil. V...

Yesterday's Irish Times Thinking Anew column. Have you ever formed an opinion about someone without having spoken to them? In tomorr...

The Günther Jauch programme on German's ARD this evening dicsussed the 'Aldi phenomenon' The famous Günther Wallraff was one o...

Most of our news comes from the one pot. These days the real news is when someone breaks a story that surprises us. RTE, BBC, RAI, ARD et ...

Are all 'elites' similar? Probably. The behaviour of the Vatican at present inclines one to say yes. Fr Brian D'Arcy is not ...

In yesterday's Guardian newspaper in the g2 section on page five Suzanne Moore writes an opinion piece on the ruling elite in the UK in ...

On this date in 1945 the Soviet and US armies met on the river Elbe near Torgau. Italy surrenders. Today is a national holiday in Italy. ...

There is a report in today's 'Irish Times' that the church says sharing ashes is inappropriate. Fr Paddy Jones, directeor of t...

Great piece in yesterday's Irish Times on how author Jenny Williams discovered Rudolf Ditzen/Hans Falada. Williams has written a biogra...

The Ray D'Arcy f word on radio and the church asking for a full apology is sure to get a good outing. According to Ray D'Arcy he a...

It is a most beautiful spring morning in Dublin. Unlocking my bicycle earlier today outside the Three Patrons Church in Rathgar, I spotted...

No doubt the alleged secrecy to which Fr Sean Fagan has been submitted is similar in kind and style to the secrecy to which that little boy ...

It is reported in today's Irish Times that the Vatican has advised Fr Sean Fagan that if any word of their latest action against him rea...

On Saturday, along with a friend, his dog and mine, we climbed Tonelagee mountain in the Wicklow Hills. It was cold, strips of snow along pa...

The Günther Jauch programme this evening discussed Günther Grass's latest poem, which is, by many people, considered to be anti-Semitic....

It is said the Holy See has the finest secret service agency in the world. Maybe that's good and bad. Certainly the nasty secret sid...

The Pell Dawkins interview was great television. Cardinal Pell's remark about the ancient Jews is not acceptable and his comments abou...

There is an editorial in today's Irish Times, 'Disciplining dissent' concerning the suggestion made by the Vatican that Fr Tony ...

Earlier this week Angela Merkel arrives in Greece on a regular plane at Athens main airport. At passport control she is asked her national...

Technical difficulties solved and blog is up and running properly again. The blog can now be accessed as an app on the smart phone, which ...

Everything is linked to power. From the election in South Ossetia on Sunday to the facade of every religious building. The South Ossetians...

The format of this blog has been changed. At present it seems it is not possible for this blogger to access the edit page using a smart phon...

Kevin Hegarty writes in today's Irish times about how the church needs to free itself from the calmmy grip of clericalism. In his last...

The column below appears in this week's INM regional newspapers. By Michael Commane I’m not a good shopper, not at all so when I was ...

Imagine if a number of bishops and provincials travelled to Rome and spoke to the relevant people in an open and honest manner, expressing t...

In the current issue of 'Reality' in an article by Triona Doherty, Fr Damian McNiece of the Dublin Diocesan Liturgical Resource Cent...

Today on the Pat Kenny Show on RTE Radio 1 Patricia Casey expressed a very worrying understanding of church. The woman could well have been ...

Good Friday Forty, 50 years ago if individual shops, newspapers opened for business on Good Friday in Ireland the hoi polloi would have expr...

German writer Günther Grass has drawn down the anger of the Israeli State in a work that has been published in a German newspaper.

Pope Benedict today re-stated the Roman Catholic Church's ban on women priests and warned that he would not tolerate disobedience by cle...