A group of lay people, sent as delegates by parishes throughout the Diocese of Ardagh Clonmacnois, has been in formation and training during the past three months, as part of the development and expansion of the Diocesan Eucharistic Adoration Committee. This was organised and conducted by Brendan Cleary and John Howard of the national committee of…
Ahead of next week’s elections to the Assembly, the northern bishops have issued a pastoral reflection. They are asking Catholics to think about key issues like the right to life, refugees, education, climate change and poverty before deciding who to vote for. Fundamental to our duty as citizens is the exercise of the precious freedom…
A prominent priest-sociologist has warned that a number of anti-Catholic media commentators are damaging the public’s opinion of the Church. Jesuit Fr Micheál Mac Gréil told The Irish Catholic that he was “very worried about the atheistic proselytisation going on in Irish society today”. “I believe that proselytising is now not on the side of…
Fr Binoy Mathew SVD and a team of volunteers from Arklow parish in Co. Wicklow reached out to over 90 primary and secondary schools in the Wicklow deanery to promote the Creative Spirit initiative. The aim of the project was to get students engaged with the scriptures by running a series of competitions including art, bookmark,…
Game of Thrones’ nihilism does not work because we need stories to have a just ending or moral purpose, writes David Quinn President Barack Obama is a fan. He got to watch the first episode of the new season ahead of almost anyone else. That, I suppose, is one of the perks of being the…
The theme of ‘Mercy: Compassion and Healing’ will be explored at the fourth annual All Saints Round Table Gathering hosted by Ballymena Parish in Co. Antrim next month. Margaret McNulty of Embrace, an interdenominational group of Christians working together, will speak about her work promoting a positive response to people from ethnic minorities living in…
Mags Gargan visits a counselling service in Dublin’s North inner city for its 20th anniversary celebration An oasis is defined as fertile ground in a desert or something that provides refuge, relief and is preserved from surrounding unpleasantness. There is no better description for the Oasis Centre in Seville Place in Dublin’s North inner city.…
Participants at a youth gathering in Dublin to celebrate the Year of Mercy describe their experience Last week Dublin’s RDS hosted a gathering of more than 500 Transition Year students from all over the island of Ireland, along with teachers, chaplains, priests, religious and volunteers, who came together to celebrate the Year of Mercy. This…
Dear Editor, You asked on the front page of The Irish Catholic (21/04/2016): Is it time to consider a female diaconate? In her two-page argument for women deacons in Ireland, Phyllis Zagano stresses that the diaconate is “totally separate from priesthood”. Yet Cathal Barry, in his continuing series on the Catechism of the Catholic Church,…
The Church teaches that priests share in the mission that Christ entrusted to the apostles, writes Cathal Barry The Second Vatican Council teaches that the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred by episcopal consecration, that fullness namely which, both in the liturgical tradition of the Church and the language of the Fathers…
Mags Gargan
Cathal Barry
David Quinn