Courtney McGrailIrishman Dom Eamon Fitzgerald, Abbot General of the Cistercian Order (right) pictured with Dom Richard Purcell, Abbot of Mount St Joseph Abbey during a meeting of the Central Commission of the Cistercian Order at the monastery in Roscrea. The meeting, the first of its kind to be held in Ireland, is taking place from June…
Month: June 2016
Bogus Mass cards will finally be banned
Mags Gargan
The section of the Charities Act which protects against the sale of bogus Mass cards can now be enforced following the withdrawal of an appeal to the Supreme Court by a Mass card trader. The Irish Catholic first raised concerns about so-called trafficking in Masses in 2008 when it emerged that many pre-signed Mass cards…
Knock’s youngest visionary to be reburied in New York cathedral
Greg Daly
The remains of John Curry, youngest witness of the apparition at Knock, buried since 1943 in an unmarked grave on New York’s Long Island, are to be exhumed and buried in the cemetery of Manhattan’s St Patrick’s Old Cathedral. Plans for the reinterment, scheduled for next spring, had their seeds in a lunchtime conversation between…
National conference to celebrate Catholic Charismatic Renewal
Rachel Beard The National Charismatic Renewal Conference will be held from June 25-26 in the Concert Hall, RDS, Dublin. Speakers at the event include Dr Mary Healy, the Chairperson of the Doctrinal Commission of International Catholic Renewal Services in Rome and Rev. Jonathan Frazer, minister in the Garnerville Parish in East Belfast, while Archbishop Diarmuid Martin…
Seminary counsellor resigns
Staff Reporter A senior member of staff at Maynooth has resigned, reportedly over differences with colleagues about the future direction of the seminary. Fr David Marsden – who as vocational growth counsellor was a key member of staff charged with helping seminarians discern a vocation to the priesthood – is a trained psychologist specialising in priestly…
Irish Church must focus on ‘quality’ of seminarians
Staff reporter A senior Vatican official has said the Church in Ireland has to come to terms with its “new reality” and focus on the “quality” of its seminarians. Archbishop Jorge Carlos Patrón Wong, Secretary for Seminaries at the Congregation for Clergy, said he has “hope” for the future of the priesthood in Ireland. There is…
Richard Gere screens homelessness film at Rome soup kitchen
Hollywood superstar Richard Gere attended a screening of his new film detailing life as a homeless man on the streets of New York at a soup kitchen in Rome affiliated with the Sant’Egidio community. Around 100 homeless people attended the screening at the soup kitchen, during which the actor told them it was “overwhelming to…
News in Brief
Archbishop asks for prayers for Orlando Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has asked for the Prayers of the Faithful at all Masses in the Dublin archdiocese on the coming weekend to remember those who have been affected by the shooting in a nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, which killed 50 people and left several more injured. He also cautioned against “unfoundedly” and…
One-third of Irish adults active in local church
Challenge of engaging young Catholics remains
Horrified Catholic schools would allow in Amnesty
Dear Editor, I am absolutely horrified at the headline in The Irish Catholic (09/06/2016) ‘Pressure on Catholic schools to ban Amnesty International’. It beggars belief that Catholic schools would allow Amnesty address their pupils with their promotion of the killing of babies in the womb. It was hardly too much to expect that, when Amnesty…