In former times bank robberies were conducted from outside the bank. The attackers were easily identifiable by their clothing and weapons. Now it seems that robbers can also come from the inside, be well dressed and have their password to the computer system!

In fact our banking system seems to have supported quite a few of the latter variety whose annual bonus would have made the old style of armed robber green with envy. Their protests of innocence chime badly against the fact that these bonuses were being awarded while their banks were sinking beneath a mountain of dodgy loans.

But that was yesterday. In the real world of today it was encouraging to learn from one Bank CEO that he was taking a pay cut of €900,000. This praiseworthy act was tempered by the knowledge that he still had an income of €2,000,000 to get by on!

The culture which says its OK for one bank to window-dress the balance sheet of another bank by a temporary loan of multi-billions, but the way it was do ... Read More »

The speech this week to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce given by our Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, has been hailed as the first signs of leadership since the recession began. One journalist likened it to Pilot Chesley Sullenberger’s crash landing of US Airways Airbus A320 Flight 1549 on the Hudson River on the 15th January. The black box flight recorder revealed, in excerpts played by the media yesterday, a cool Captain gliding his plane to a safe landing on the river. In the background was a cacophony of voices as various air controllers tried to understand what was happening and offer advice to the stricken craft. Captain Chesley’s voice was clear and concise as he explained that he did not have much time and the alternative airfields were outside his gliding range.

As a country we do not have much time either. The cruel joke; “What is the difference between Iceland and Ireland?” The answer; “One letter and 6 months” is far too near the bone for comfort.

In Iceland the top bankers are fo ... Read More »

With the 1^st February, the Celtic feast day of Imbolc is upon us. The light is returning and the snowdrops are blooming. Let us escape from the current financial crises and turn our thoughts to St Brigid whose day it is.

It is interesting that there seems to have been a Brigit (the old spelling) before there was a Brigid. She was said to be a pagan goddess of fire, smith-craft, healing, childbirth and poetry.

One of the customs associated with her is the Bridie Doll. This is a sheaf of oats, dressed in women’s clothing and placed in the earth as part of a fertility rite.

History is silent as to whether the pagan Brigit was converted to Christ and became St Brigid but the latter is renowned in Kildare for her negotiating skills. In dealing with the High King of Leinster for a place to build her monastery he said, dismissively, sh ... Read More »

This is the Saviour of the world said the shop assistant referring to Obama as the radio brought the Presidential inauguration in Washington into the local chemist’s shop. For a moment I found myself agreeing! Such has been the momentum generated by the rhetoric and the welcome distraction it afforded from the chill economic winds that are blowing that there was a strong temptation to buy into it – lock, stock and barrel.

Barack Hussein Obama carries with him into the Presidential office the hopes of a fairer society in the US and justice for the rest of the world. Perhaps never has one man had had so much expectation placed upon his shoulders. Perhaps never have such flimsy shoulders appeared to carry the burden so lightly. But then this is only the first week in office!

The traditional oath of allegiance, taken in God’s name and sworn on the Bible, demonstrates the dependence t ... Read More »

It is easier, Jesus said, for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God could be updated and how hard, we respond, for the Religious to show humility to the Laity.

The rich? They have got it made. Their security is in their riches.

The Religious? They have an “in” with God. Their security is in the establishment.

As events unfolded of negligence in handling child abuse cases in the Diocese of Cloyne the hierarchical ranks closed this week with the oft repeated statement that lessons have been learned and the sense of denial was palpable.

The sight of a lone Priest doing his walk of atonement from Cork to Dublin spoke volumes of the solitary walk of those who would like to speak out but are trapped within the system.

I wrote the undernoted Blog in Nov.05 following the publication of the Report on Child Abuse in the Ferns Dioceses catalogued something of the horror many young people experienced at the hands of ... Read More »

There is nothing like a deadline to focus the mind and for Israel the 20^th January could be it! The change in the US administration may well close the “window of opportunity” for their equivalent of a fatwa on Hamas. The rain of rockets had to be halted. You cannot live in a bomb shelter for ever. With an election looming, Israel had to do what Israel had to do.

Hamas, with a little help from Iran, has been increasing her rocket range, now reaching Ashkelon with Jerusalem next stop. The last Palestinian election saw Hamas elected signalling that the majority agreed with its 1988 charter. This states, among other things, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it”.

With such sentiments it must be difficult to “love your neighbour”!

< ... Read More »

I have never heard of anyone making a resolution to be converted to Jesus Christ. In fact I have never heard of anyone resolving to feed the hungry or heal the sick. Usually what I hear is focussed on “low fat diet” or to stay “off the drink”. Our resolutions tend to have a self-centered aspect!

The good intentions of 1^st January usually end up in tatters by 1^st February. Even on those occasions where we seriously intend to keep our resolution we find that “old habits die hard” and we are forced to join the others and make a joke of our efforts to mask the disappointment.

When it comes to following Jesus many of us have been led down the religious route where church baptism provides an entry point to the church and subsequent renewal of these vows at a later date are said to establish one in membership of the church. Read More »

“They’re bringing religion into Christmas Cards” she said to her neighbour as they looked at a card with the nativity scene! The comment is probably apocryphal but the cards of winter scenes, Robins and berries to say nothing of Santa far outweigh the “religious” cards. So what does the Bible say about the “religious” bit?

It has become popular to speak about Jesus birthday on the 25^th December but there was never a time when Jesus did not exist. He was with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the councils of eternity when Creation and Redemption of humankind was planned. True he did have a birth day when he took flesh and entered our universe via the womb of a virgin and was made in all respects like us except he was without sin.

Athanasius in the 4^th century put it clearly when he said that “Jesus became what he was not without ever ceasing to be what he always was”.

He was, is and always will be God.

Isaiah put it pro ... Read More »

Last week, Sky’s digital channel, Real Lives, showed the Oscar-winning documentary, “Right to Die” featuring Craig Ewert’s assisted suicide in a Swiss clinic. Craig had been suffering from motor neurone disease and died in the presence of his wife following a lethal doze of barbiturates.

As film directors take their craft into increasingly sensitive areas of human existence we are asked to confront matters previous generations were only vaguely aware of. The Hippocratic Oath bound the medical profession to heal not harm. The crucial clause states, “I will use treatment to help the sick according to my judgement and ability, but I will never use it to injure or wrong them”.

With advances in medical science comes the ability to sustain the life of the dying until the problem becomes an ethical rather than a medical one.

The poet has written;

Thou shalt ... Read More »

News of food contamination in the developed world travels fast. Sophisticated food testing in a number of European countries detected dioxins in pork fat as far back as September. Towards the end of November the source was traced to an animal food recycling plant in Ireland.

When confirmation of high levels of contamination was obtained from the UK laboratory last Saturday the Government acted swiftly to recall all Irish pork products produced from pigs slaughtered in the State.

Consumers emptied their fridges, retailers emptied their shelves and the process was repeated in our export markets as far away as Japan.

There have been reassurances from “experts” that there is unlikely to be any health issues occurring to those whose diet contained pork since September but they sound hollow in the face of total product recall.

The fear factor where food is concerned becomes paramount.& ... Read More »