Much has been written and spoken in attempts to explain the ignominious collapse of the Labour Party vote in the Meath by-election, but as yet I have not heard one commentator refer to the fact that under his leadership Eamon Gilmore is making it more difficult for a Catholic to vote for Labour.

It is now 2012, Irish society has moved on a great deal, but sadly many institutions such as the Christian churches, some Government departments and their civil servants remain in their bunkers.

Fifty years on from Vatican II, Catholics are still split on what it actually achieved. Desmond Fisher wonders what next for a Church in crisis

It is 50 years since Vatican II, a surprise attempt to radically overhaul the Catholic Church. But its potential has been squandered, writes TP O’Mahony

I picked up my “pilgrim pack” at the RDS on Saturday and was impressed by the many helpful volunteers on duty and the splendid arrangements and preparations at the Eucharistic Congress.

Dan Buckley profiles a priest at odds with some dogmas of the Church

WE should all be grateful to those atheists who have recently been contributing to your columns.

Pope Benedict XVI issued pleas for peace to reign across the world during his traditional Christmas address today, a call marred by Muslim extremists who attacked Christian churches in Nigeria, including bombing a Catholic Mass.

IT was a case of the Plough and the Pilgrims in Athy when the logistics of organising the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin next June were compared with those for the ploughing championships.

I REFER to Claire O’Sullivan’s article (Church will not take bishop’s celibacy remarks too kindly, Sept 14) which refers to retired Bishop Dr Edward Daly’s questioning of the need for the continuation of the long-established rule of mandatory celibacy in the Catholic Church.

MAY I make a hear felt appeal to all Christians contemplating going to the Munster v Leinster match in Thomond Park, Limerick, on Good Friday?

Thousands of Haitians crowded into churches in the capital yesterday for a national day of mourning a month after the magnitude-7.0 earthquake killed more than 200,000 people.

YOU offered three contrasting caricatures on the evolving relationship between the Christian churches and Irish society (October 24).

PRO-LIFE campaigners have clashed over whether the Lisbon Treaty will force Ireland to compromise its ban on abortion.

SO Cardinal Seán Brady believes the Bishop of Cloyne has learned his lesson and has no need to resign.

LOCAL leadership in provincial Ireland has been important over the past 200 years and we owe much to the Christian churches for the parish structures they put in place.

DR HILLERY was a private and even shy man despite the decades he spent in public life, mourners at his funeral mass heard.

THE priest at the centre of a major ecumenical row has defended his decision to organise a concelebrated Mass involving three Catholic priests and a Church of Ireland minister on Easter Sunday.

POPE BENEDICT XVI met leaders of the Muslim community, welcoming progress in Christian-Muslim dialogue and saying the Catholic Church wanted to continue “building bridges of friendship” with all other religions.

In the short time since his election as Pope Benedict XVI, there have been strong expressions of opinion about the new Pontiff from an unusually wide range of people.

A NEW era has begun. Yesterday the crowds had thinned around St Peter’s Square. The startling drama of the previous night had receded.

POPE John Paul II said he hoped the return of a precious icon to the Russian Orthodox Church would hasten “mutual understanding and reconciliation” between the Roman Catholic Church and its eastern counterpart.

Former church leader Cardinal Cahal Daly today highlighted the “embarrassment” of coming from Northern Ireland.

I READ recently about an American school principal who found he was prohibited by law from saying a prayer over the public address system at the start of a high school football game. This was on the grounds that the prayer would offend non-Christian minorities.

IF we had known what was to happen in the USA on September 11 last, and if we had then failed to do everything in our power to avert the disaster, it would have been criminal and sinful.