Anybody else here read the "Alive!" Newspaper? Usually given out free at the back of the Church, it's hugely controversial. It will definitely be banned at some point in the near future. I love it. It think it's great. Really really great. Their website is: http://www.alive.ie There you can download back issues. No other paper I read, apart from the Irish Catholic, tells it like it is the way Alive does. Every time I read it, I wonder if it will be the last, as it's so blunt with truth, so revealing in its analysis, so massively and bravely critical of the government and the EU, that it will, at some point, be shut down.
I used to read it, haven't seen it in a while. Must look out for it again. I'd say it will be banned alright. Branded as hate-filled, homophobic etc. Labels we are all going to have to get used to!
In my experience it is most likely to be banned by people in the Church. Our last Parish priest banned it. When his replacement was asked if we could have Alive in the church, he said he'd prefer not. A year later i asked if the Parish Pastoral Council would read it for three months and then decide whether it could be allowed in or not. Apparently they couldn't decide and left it to the Parish priest and he ok'd it this time as long as a poster was put up saying it was to be read with discretion! have you noticed the recent addition of a disclaimer on the front saying the Dominicans don't necessarily support it! God help the lukewarm is all i have to say!
Indeed. I'd noticed the disclaimer alright. The editor got a right grilling on liveline a few years back. I wasn't surprised, even though I agreed with the editor, the world would never see life through the Catholic lens. Joe Duffy was very hard on the editor in that interview. Every time I read this paper, I find myself nodding in agreement as I read or muttering furiously at a point it raises. No other publication gets me going like Alive! does. For example, the latest issue, which I just read today has an excellent article on the madness of mothers giving their children into crèche to be reared by strangers. The financial argument of creche is pathetic and Alive! raised this point very well - something I'm always banging on about - how can people be surprised at a society with problems among our younger generation when they were raised by strangers? Alive! is great a catching issues like this.
