Courtney McGrailThe death has taken place of Fr Pat Prendergast, parish priest of Glenties in the Diocese of Raphoe. A native of Letterkenny, he was ordained in 1977 and served in a number of parishes in the diocese including Holy Cross College, Falcarragh; Milford, Ballyshannon, Front Town and Glenties.
Month: March 2017
Dublin welcomes new Catholics
Last Sunday saw Dublin’s pro cathedral host the annual Rite of Election and Enrolement for 50 new members of the Catholic Church in the archdiocese. In the presence of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, 43 catechumens (awaiting baptism) and seven candidates (baptised) attended the ceremony to welcome them to the Church, culminating in each one signing the…
‘Great response’ to Save Roscea College campaign
The campaign to save Cistercian College Roscrea is gathering momentum. Speaking to The Irish Catholic this week, Ronnie Culliton of Save Cistercian College Roscrea (SCCR) said there had been a “great response” since parents and past pupils launched an appeal for funds to sustain the institution into the future. “There have lots of small donations,”…
Persecuted Christians have grounds for hope
This is both a hopeful time and a grim one for those concerned about the persecution of Christians and freedom of conscience, according to an Iranian convert to Catholicism. Speaking in Dublin’s Newman University Church, Wall Street Journal editorial writer Sohrab Ahmari said there are grounds for hope, “because the question of the persecution of…
Celebrating local schools
Over the weekend the CPSMA (Catholic Primary Schools Management Association) held their annual conference in Dublin, which included a presentation by Minister Richard Bruton, Minister for Education and Skills to the winners of the CPSMA art competition ‘Celebrating Local Schools’: Rebecca Hynes, Vicki Zimeng Lin, Isabelle Maher, Tashuva Rafiq and Aisling Amponsah. Photo: John McElroy
The old Stormont order has changed, changed utterly
Nuala O’Loan
The votes have been counted and Northern Ireland is in something of a state of shock. Last week unionists had a 16-seat majority over nationalists in the Assembly. Now, just over a week later nationalism has a total of 39 seats to unionism’s 40 seats. However the DUP, by a majority of one, has more…
Citizens’ Assembly nears ‘Decision Day’
Paul Keenan
It’s all over bar the shouting, so the saying goes. As the Citizens’ Assembly moved last weekend from a session of presentations and questioning to a phase of internal debate towards a final ballot on recommendations to be put to the Oireachtas, it is a fairly safe bet that we have not heard the last…
Papal Nuncio’s tribute to the late Peter Mathews TD
The Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown pictured at the funeral of Peter Mathews TD at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Donnybrook, Dublin. The nuncio paid tribute to the former Fine Gael TD for Dublin South on behalf of Pope Francis, saying he was “an outstanding citizen and a great patriot who possessed a…
We must discover how and why those children died
David Quinn
Investigation of mother and baby homes should proceed apace, writes David Quinn It is very hard, three years after the story first broke, to write again about the Tuam mother and baby home and all the deaths that took place there in the years of its operation from 1925 to 1961. What else is left…
After Tuam we should all look at our own families’ attitudes
Mary Kenny
“This inflated language is a signal of the anger. Our families did not commit ‘genocide’: they did, however, contribute to the social mores which produced Tuam and its ilk”, writes Mary Kenny It’s understandable – and right – that most people are deeply distressed and desperately upset about the uncovering of the Tuam babies’ remains.…