A vigil has been held in west Belfast to pay tribute to Jennifer Dornan whose body was found after a house fire in the Lagmore area of Dunmurry. The PSNI launched a murder investigation following results of a post mortem. Fr Martin Graham, who was at the vigil, described the mother of three was a…

A man who pleaded guilty to knocking over an elderly nun in the centre of Limerick City and snatching her handbag, has been remanded in custody for sentencing. Joe Roche, 30, approached two elderly nuns, aged 75 and 78, as they walked along O’Connell Street on the morning of January 3. He snatched a handbag…

Two new chaplains have been appointed to University College Cork (UCC) as part of an agreement between the college and the Diocese of Cork and Ross. Nathan Williams and Brett Cavanaugh, both graduates of the University of Notre Dame in the US, will take up their positions at the beginning of the upcoming academic year,…

Fr Enda Murphy, a priest of the Diocese of Kilmore, has been appointed by the Vatican Secretariat of State to serve in the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments of the Roman Curia. Fr Murphy is a native of Derrylin, Co. Fermanagh. He studied at Queen's University, Belfast, the Gregorian University in Rome and,…

The Government has ruled out removing the controversial direct provision system for asylum seekers and refugees. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has said it is “not feasible” to say there are alternatives to direct provision and the Government is instead concentrating on improvements to the system to fast-track application decisions. She said direct provision is “not…

Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick was among an Irish delegation of 120 people who travelled to the Focolare summer gathering at Hope University in Liverpool last week. Addressing the summer gathering, jointly hosted by Focolare in the UK and Ireland, Bishop Leahy said that when Focolare started in 1943 the founders could “hardly have imagined…

A survey by Barnardos has found that the overall costs of sending a child to school have gone up this year compared with 2014. It takes €785 to put a child through their first year of secondary school, an increase of €50 and it costs €365 for a senior infant, up €20 euro. The average…

Archbishop Eamon Martin has announced a number of changes to clergy appointments in the Archdiocese of Armagh which will take effect from August 22. The diocese’s two newly ordained priests have been appointed to parishes. Fr Aidan McCann to be CC Dungannon and Fr Brian Slater to be CC St Patrick’s, Dundalk. Three priests, Mgsr…

The Irish naval service is already learning lessons from the Mediterranean mission of the LÉ Eithne, according to the chaplain to the naval service. Fr Des Campion, who has served as naval chaplain for 26 years and has worked in Kosovo and the Lebanon, told The Irish Catholic that the LÉ Eithne’s mission was the…

Pro-life campaigners have described as “blatant hypocrisy” calls for an end to Ireland’s constitutional protection of unborn children with life-limiting conditions in the same weeks special Olympians returned home in triumph. Cora Sherlock of the Pro-Life Campaign (PLC) told The Irish Catholic it was hard to fathom that on one hand there are “news reports…