Patsy McGarry

6 days ago | irishtimes.com | Patsy McGarry

Sometimes I wonder if we Irish have finally lost it. Pope Leo, or Bob the Pope as some prefer to call him, was elected on May 8th and still there is not a hint of an Irish link. How can it be possible that a man who was born, grew up and was educated in Chicago has no Irish connection? If links with Ireland could be found in the ancestry of Muhammad Ali and Barack Obama, how is it not possible where Robert Prevost is concerned? Has no one checked his Norman ancestry, for instance?

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Patsy McGarry

Ireland’s two main churches have reacted forcefully to the continuing suffering of the people of Gaza and have demanded action to end it. “It appears that humanity has lost its heart,” the Catholic bishops have said. “From all over Ireland, parishioners are reporting their horror and helplessness on seeing images of death and communal destruction in Gaza,” they said.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Patsy McGarry

The recent suggestion by a French politician that Washington should return the Statue of Liberty – presented to the US by France in 1876 to commemorate a century of American independence – was met with derision. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was typically blunt.

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Patsy McGarry

Defamation actions arising from the live-streaming of religious ceremonies are “likely to happen again”, Nick Park, executive director of Evangelical Alliance Ireland (EAI) has said. His remarks follow a successful action by Warren Walsh who sued the Cornerstone Slieve Bloom Church in Tullamore, Co Offaly, for defamation arising from comments made by his daughter during a live-streamed Baptism ceremony there. “If it happened once, it’s likely to happen again,” Mr Park said.

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Patsy McGarry

Maybe it’s an age thing. Let’s be clear: I have nothing against bodily functions. They play a very positive role in my good health, but if you’ll pardon the thought, does it have to be so much in-your-face these days? There’s the current and ludicrous president of the US announcing urbi et orbi last month that the nations of the Earth were queuing up to kiss his “ass”. Coarse, and typical.