Irish parishes should be more active in tackling Ireland’s Direct Provision system, a priest with long experience of dealing with migrant communities has said.  Recalling how such systems were first introduced in Australia to deter immigration, and observing that it hasn’t worked, Fr Alan Hilliard told The Irish Catholic that parishes should do more to…

The Church has a key role to play in supporting rural life, Ireland’s newest bishop has said. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Killaloe’s Bishop Fintan Monahan, who was ordained in Ennis’s Cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul on Sunday, September 25, said that among his priorities as a new bishop would be doing whatever he…

Young pro-life activists holding balloons to mark how the Pro Life Campaign has calculated that upwards of 100,000 Irish people are alive today who might not be so were it not for the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. 

A priest of the North Belfast parish of Ardoyne has welcomed moves to end the Twaddell Avenue stand-off that has seen a loyalist protest camp maintained in the community for over two years. Speaking to The Irish Catholic this week as he prepared to depart Holy Cross parish, Fr Gary Donegan expressed his joy that…

John McAreavey, whose wife Michaela Harte was murdered on the couple’s honeymoon in 2011, has remarried and thanked God for getting his life back on track. Five years after the trauma and heartbreak of losing Michaela on the island of Mauritius, John has married Tara Brennan, with whom he worked at the Michaela Foundation, the…

The Pro Life Campaign pre-empted last weekend’s March for Choice in Dublin by highlighting research suggesting that over 100,000 Irish people owe their lives to Ireland’s constitutional protections for the unborn. In advance of the September 24 march, which some participants claimed was attended by over 20,000 people, a group of young pro-life advocates gathered…

A small Catholic church in England had a celebrity surprise last week when Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg arrived for Mass, fresh from saving the world in his latest blockbuster. Currently filming the fifth instalment of the Transformers series in England, Wahlberg left the set to attend Sunday Mass at St Aidan’s Church in Seahouses. Depth of faith…

Cistercian College students Fiacra Murphy and Rian Boylan pictured with the papal nuncio Archbishop Charles Browne at the National Ploughing Championships.

Staff reporter The first Catholic ecumenical canon of Belfast’s Church of Ireland cathedral has praised the symbolism of his appointment. Fr Eddie O’Donnell, who was installed as Ecumenical Canon of St Anne’s Cathedral during Evensong on September 25, told The Irish Catholic that his duties will include occasionally preaching in the cathedral and attending chapter meetings,…