The systematic reduction in the funding for Essential Needs Payments (ENPs) is placing severe pressure on struggling families throughout the country, according to the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) The ENP budget this year (2015) is €27.9m, a cut of 55% since 2011. John-Mark McCafferty, SVP Head of Social Justice & Policy said…

An Argentinean bishop is leading the call for the beatification of a Co. Limerick missionary who died in December. Fr Liam Hayes, a Divine Word Missionary from Cappamore, had devoted his life to helping the poorest and most vulnerable in Oberá, Argentina. He founded several homes for children and adults with severe physical and intellectual…

The Irish Bishops’ Conference has launched a new website which outlines the Church’s teaching on marriage. The website www.meaningofmarriage.ie will host relevant material which has been published by the Irish Bishops’ Conference, its councils, and by individual bishops, including the pastoral statement The Meaning of Marriage, as well as comments from Pope Francis on the theme…

Fine Gael has refused to give assurances that Catholic marriage counselling would not have funding withdrawn if the referendum on same-sex marriage passes. Currently, Accord, a Church-run marriage preparation and counselling agency, receives funds from the State through the Family Support Agency and Health Service Executive. However, concerns have been raised in the organisation that…

Kidney transplant recipients Joshua O’Halloran (16) from Galway, Luke Concannon (9) from Lucan, Co. Dublin, Salem Alhag (12), the 100th transplant recipient and Courtney Kealy, (17) from Slane, Co. Meath, the first transplant recipient, celebrate Temple Street Children’s University Hospital’s 100th kidney transplant.  Photo: Conor McCabe Photography

Lay visitation teams have completed the impressive task of calling to over 4,000 homes in Arklow, in an initiative to encourage practising Catholics and to welcome lapsed Catholics back to the Church. The project in the Co. Wicklow town was organised by the Parish Pastoral Council, with the help of the Legion of Mary in…

Staff Reporter World champion Manny Pacquiao has turned to God in preparation for his highly anticipated fight to settle the debate about who is the world’s best pound-for-pound boxer. The Filipino fighter takes on Floyd Mayweather in what has been dubbed ‘the fight of the century’ in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas…

Wartime documents belonging to an Irish priest known as “the saint of the trenches” have been made digitally available for researchers worldwide. In the first ever collaboration between UCD Digital Library and the Archive of the Archdiocese of Dublin, the papers and diaries of Dublin priest Canon Francis Gleeson, who served as chaplain to the…

Irish priest tells of Nepal quake terror as world rallies to its aid