Mary Kenny, Author at Catholic Herald

Mary Kenny

Mary Kenny: Nigel Farage’s case for celibacy

March 02, 2017

Sometimes insights about life come from the most unexpected sources, and thus, surprisingly, Nigel Farage has illuminated a point about priestly celibacy. In speaking on television to Piers Morgan about his life, Mr Farage has suggested that his marriages have failed essentially because he was continually obsessed with politics and with advancing the cause of

Mary Kenny: Who would Joan of Arc vote for?

February 23, 2017

A fresh theatrical production of St Joan claims that Bernard Shaw’s play is now “relevant to our time”. But the story of Joan of Arc is relevant to all time, and the Donmar’s drama (which will be streamed into 2,500 cinemas for all to see on March 14) portrays Joan as a feminist icon. This

Mary Kenny: Our ageing society’s silver lining

February 16, 2017

It is being reliably forecast that the working population in the future will have to remain in employment for longer – goodbye to the expectation of retiring in your sixties and spending your leisure years on pensioners’ cruises. Many, if not most, people will have to continue working until they’re 72, because of the way

Mary Kenny: Bring back digs

February 09, 2017

I’m not sure that it’s the Government’s role to tell citizens what kind of homes they choose to live in, but in any case there are to be strong incentives to older people to make it easier to “downsize” from empty-nest family homes. A White Paper will explore ways in which this might be achieved.

Mary Kenny: Luther, warts and all

February 02, 2017

This is Martin Luther’s centenary year – he nailed his notorious 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg in 1517 – and the Holy Father has enjoined us to see Luther in a positive light. Francis has been receiving Lutheran pilgrims from Finland and has himself visited Sweden as part of a Lutheran reconciliation.

Mary Kenny: A march to nowhere

January 26, 2017

I was upbraided by a “Facebook friend” for not being present at one of the women’s marches against President Trump and his administration last Saturday. Well, there was no such march in my area, and anyway, I’m still not quite fit enough to join a street march after a Christmastime fall (stone cold sober too!)

Mary Kenny: America’s impeccable family

January 19, 2017

Whatever view is taken about Barack Obama’s politics, or the overall record of his presidency, it must be admitted that in terms of “family values”, Barack and Michelle Obama have been quite remarkable exemplars of domestic virtue. Over a span of eight years, with two daughters growing through their teenage years – which can often

Mary Kenny: We’ll never wipe out loneliness

January 12, 2017

Yet another report tells us that loneliness in Britain today is almost at “epidemic” proportions. According to Age UK, half a million people over the age of 60 go for an entire week without meeting or speaking to anyone. Our society has a strikingly utilitarian response to human problems, and this situation is especially deplored

Mary Kenny: The fall that opened my eyes

January 05, 2017

It’s said, from old times, that “pride comes before a fall”: in my case, carelessness and haste precede a fall, and I mean that quite literally. Hanging on a doorknob at home was a soft backpack handy for shopping, its straps trailing down in the shape of a noose. On Christmas Eve, as I was

Mary Kenny: The Nativity story in a child’s face

December 22, 2016

In the first week of December, I received a Christmas gift which will have given me more joy than any material object I can imagine: a photograph of my three-year-old grandson James Carlos appearing as a shepherd in his nursery school Nativity play. Sent electronically, the wonder in the child’s face transmitted to me a

Mary Kenny: Don’t boss people into being British

December 15, 2016

I’m not sure that immigrants swearing an allegiance to Britain – as Dame Louise Casey has suggested, lamenting the lack of integration among many migrant communities – is quite in the British tradition. Historically, incomers didn’t develop allegiance to the United Kingdom through any formal coercion by the state. They “absorbed” Britishness through personal experience,

Mary Kenny: The Pope is no longer ‘Antichrist’ in Ulster

December 08, 2016

It has now been confirmed that Pope Francis will visit Ireland – south and north – in August 2018, and already some Dublin politicians are fretting that he might make a “controversial” statement about abortion during the visit. (There will very probably be an abortion referendum at this time.) Who knows? Francis is just as

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