A complete chronological listing of shorter pieces written since 1995.
Any of these articles that are not the copyright of a specified publication may be freely copied and distributed.
Articles are listed in inverse chronological order – i.e. more recent articles first.
- Of Good and Evil: I – Dealing with the Darkness© Reality Mar 2010
How and why, as a teacher of history and current affairs, I came to a conclusion about the central human problem in 1994 – our chronic dissatisfaction with ourselves as we are, and our consequent tendency to 'climb' - to find a way of proving that we deserve the good opinion of others. - Goodbye and Good Riddance to Irish Catholic Serfdom© Doctrine and Life Oct 2009
Why the disillusionment that followed the CICA (Ryan) report into widespread abuse in church-managed institutions in Ireland in the 20th century should lead to a liberation from moral serfdom - the medieval habit of lay deference to those who wielded clerical authority but ignored the sufferings of thousands of children in those residential institutions. - Why the Show mustn’t go on© Doctrine and Life Sep 2008
How the story of Michael Cleary revealed the great danger of the illusion that underlies Catholic clericalism – the belief that ordination confers virtue and holiness on those who receive it. It revealed also a huge gap in Catholic moral education, leaving us all unwarned about the greatest danger presented by electronic media. - Secularism and Hesitant Preaching© The Furrow Jul/Aug 2008
Why the bland hesitancy that has overtaken the Sunday homily in Ireland in recent years needs to be discarded. All of the most intractable problems that currently threaten us – from abuse to addiction to climate crisis – are related to the central problem addressed by the Gospel: our inability to love ourselves and one another. To wait for effective government-led policies to deal with these problems is a profound mistake. - The Role of the Priest: Sacrifice or Self-sacrifice?© Doctrine and Life Sep 2007
Why do we associate ‘priesthood’ with ritual rather than with actual service and self-sacrifice – the definitive priestly role of Jesus? The reasons are historical rather than theological. To restore the centrality of actual service in the church will be to resolve our confusion over ‘involving the laity in the church’ also. - Catholic Schools: why they are not maintaining the faith© The Irish News 21st June 2007
With the future of Northern Ireland’s Catholic schools then in question, I offered an explanation of why they were failing to do what they are supposed to do: form committed Catholic adults. - The Story of the West: VI – Mastering Contagious Desire© Reality Mar 2007
Why did a second-generation Irish nationalist leader set out to mimic in the late 1900s the lifestyle of nineteenth-century Irish ascendancy landlords, with disastrous and tragic consequences for his own reputation and his family? Why is the baseball cap worn around the world – even in cold weather? Why are people so fascinated by celebrity? Why, in summary, is desire so contagious - and why do we therefore need to re-learn the meaning of the critical verb 'to covet'? - The Story of the West : V – Earth Crisis© Reality Feb 2007
The rise of the West to global dominance has led to an intense global environmental crisis. An analysis of this crisis supports the argument that Christianity will again be crucial to the survival of the human community on planet Earth. - The Story of the West: IV – The Rise of Capitalism© Reality Jan 2007
Did the West’s economic miracle of the past few centuries begin, as was once thought, with the ‘Protestant work ethic’, or did it have a much earlier origin – in the Catholic theology of the Middle Ages? - The Story of the West: III – The Origins of Freedom© Reality Dec 2006
Is secularism really the original source of the freedoms of western civilisation? This article argues that those origins lie neither in modern secularism nor in ancient Greece, but in the New Testament and the Catholic theologians of the Middle Ages. The belief that we humans have binding obligations to one another arose from Christian theology, and it was from this principle that John Locke derived the idea of the rights of man. - Clericalism the enemy of Catholicism© The Irish News 9th Nov 2006
Here I outlined the view of 'Voice of the Faithful - Ireland' that the origins of Catholic scandals lie not in the essence of Catholicism but in Catholic clericalism, the mistaken identification of 'the Church' with clergy. - The Story of the West: II – Christian Theology and the Scientific Revolution© Reality Nov 2006
Though Ancient Greece is usually presented as the original source of western science, a key requirement of modern science – systematic experimentation – developed in only one civilisation: Christian Europe. The cause of this was a key Christian belief: that God had created a rational universe. - The Story of the West: I – The Idea of Progress© Reality Oct 2006
The hope and expectation that the future will be better than the past emerged out of one ancient tradition only – Judaism and then Christianity. And the survival of hope for the world now depends upon a fruitful dialogue between Christianity and secularism that will restore a shared sense of values to the West. - The Story of the West© Reality Oct 2006 – Mar 2007
As secularism advances in Ireland, so does the myth that Catholicism and Christianity had little to do with the success story of Western civilisation. In this series, drawing especially on the work of Rodney Stark in Victory of Reason, I presented the argument that from the beginning Catholic Christianity played an essential role in the rise of the West. I finished with the conviction that the present Earth crisis can be overcome only by a fruitful dialogue between secularism and Christianity. - Western dominance: a product of Catholic theology?© Doctrine and Life April 2006
A review of Rodney Stark’s ‘Victory of Reason’, an agnostic sociologist’s defence of the role of Christianity and Catholicism in forming the the West’s cultural ascendancy in the modern era. - After Ferns: the Rise of Christian Secularism?© Reality Mar 2006
Acting on the recommendations of the Ferns report of October 2005, Irish Catholic bishops were reacting to a secular process of inquiry into their own failings. This means that secularism is not necessarily a force antagonistic to Christian values. It’s time for a Christian secularism. - Unaccountability, Patronage and Corruption© Doctrine and Life Feb 2006
The unaccountability of bishops, who promote and demote clergy in the Catholic church, and who also exercise this power of patronage in Catholic education, is a corrupting circumstance for the whole church. Those who support the church financially need to consider how best to end this situation. - After Ferns: Clericalism Must Go!© Reality January 2006
The role of clericalism in the sexual abuse of children by a minority of Catholic priests, and the role of clericalism in the cover-up also - as proven once again by the Ferns report of Oct 2005. The lesson to be learned? Clericalism must finally be eradicated from the culture of the Catholic Church. - Does Religion Cause Violence?© Reality Oct 2005
The attribution by militant secularists of radical Islamic terrorist violence in Iraq and elsewhere to religion ignored the motives that underlie all such violence. - Love before Knowledge: The search for portable truth© The Furrow Sep 2005
How the central truths of the creed - the message of love, hope and freedom - too often get lost in a welter of texts. For the faith to be truly portable and exciting those engaged in faith formation need to prioritise and never lose sight of what lies at the summit of the 'hierarchy of truth' - that God is love first of all and wishes to dwell as loving freedom - not as endless wordage - in the minds and hearts of all. - ‘Towards Healing’ (2005): A promise that must be kept© Doctrine and Life Sep 2005
The proposal in the Irish Bishops’ Lenten reflection of February 2005 – the mobilisation of the whole church community to tackle the problem of abuse – was not widely discussed at the time and soon dropped out of sight. Once again the absence of regular church structures for the discussion of acute societal and internal church issues rendered important proposals ineffectual. However, the problem identified then has not gone away, while the church is now seeking 'relevance'. It is surely high time to resurrect the central proposal of 'Towards Healing' (2005). - Facing ‘the Dictatorship of Relativism’© Reality Jul/Aug 2005
How an interview given by Pope Benedict XVI in 1996 - while he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - suggests a possible solution to the problem of vigorously opposing relativism (the belief that there is no objective truth) while maintaining the peace of a multi-faith society. - A Short History of Haute Cuisine Catholicism© The Irish Times July 2005
The historical tendency of the Catholic hierarchy to cosy up to social elites, in spite of their claim to be models of the church's founder. - My Kind of Pope© Reality June 2005
My ideal Pope will neither overestimate the importance and authority of the papacy or the Vatican - or underestimate the need and potential for lay Catholics - including the young - to exercise Christian initiative in their own space. He will trust the people of God to the guidance and gifts of the Holy Spirit and forego personal prerogative, paternalism and pomp. - Is Human Consciousness Evolving?© Doctrine and Life Apr 2005
A review article assessing the argument, presented in Adrian Smith’s book “The God Shift”, that humans are becoming ‘superconscious’.
Views: 1776