Courtney McGrailAdoration Sisters Anne Cahalan, Martina Purdy, Maire McAteer and Elaine Kelly with Fr Gerry McCloskey, Parish Priest of Dunsford & Ardglass (left) and Fr John Murray, Parish Priest of St Patricks Church, Downpatrick, Co. Down who runs the ‘An Evening of Mercy’ event at the church. Sr Martina, a former political correspondent with the BBC…
Month: June 2016
Govt hope Pope will visit North
Foreign Affairs Minister Charles Flanagan said the Government “would hope that were Pope Francis to visit Ireland, he would also take the opportunity to visit Northern Ireland”.
Bishops back Amnesty International ban in Church-run schools
Cathal Barry
Bishop Phonsie Cullinan has said he is “totally opposed” to Amnesty International speaking in Catholic schools given the organisation’s support for a liberalisation of Ireland’s abortion laws, which he described as “bizarre”. As a former supporter of Amnesty’s work, the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore said he was “saddened by the direction in which the…
New Presbyterian moderator will work to overcome bigotry
Greg Daly
The new moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland has said that bigotry is common in his denomination and something he struggled to overcome in himself when asked to minister in Dublin as a young man. Speaking on Sunday Sequence on BBC Radio Ulster, Dr Frank Sellar, who was elected moderator in February but took…
Dublin city churches ‘virtually inaccessible’ under new plan
Concern has been expressed that the churches in the nation’s capital may become “virtually inaccessible” if Dublin City Council pushes ahead with plans for a pedestrian plaza at College Green. A number of city centre representative bodies have opposed the controversial plaza that will ban private cars from the area outside Trinity College. Fr Christopher…
Queen Elizabeth is a surprising ecumenist
Mary Kenny
“Elizabeth has achieved a form of ecumenism simply by faithfully adhering to her own Christian faith”, writes Mary Kenny
Historic meeting in Roscrea
Irishman 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…
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
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…