Mags Gargan examines the continuing popularity of parish missions Parish missions were a common feature in the Irish Church up until about the 1960s and for many the idea of a mission brings up the old stereotypical image of a judgmental, hellfire preacher. However, parish missions today are a gentler, communal affair and while they…
The finances of Dublin archdiocese have never been so transparent, writes Greg Daly On the face of it, comparing this year’s financial reports from the Archdiocese of Dublin with its Share Newsletters of previous years is a case of comparing apples and oranges. Previous practice in the archdiocese entailed the publication, typically in April, of…
In trying to eradicate Ireland’s Christian heritage, secularists could destroy Ireland’s identity, writes David Quinn Once French presidential candidate, Francois Fillon, was damaged by the scandal of paying his wife and family out of public funds for jobs that seemingly did not exist, it was inevitable that Emmanuel Macron would win the French election. Le…
In a role reversal, Knock Shrine sent out pilgrims on a charter flight to the US this week to take part in a ceremony that will see the remains of the youngest witness to the Knock apparition reinterred at Old St Patrick’s Cathedral, New York. The remains of John Curry will be brought from the…
Galway City Council has voted to abandon its practice of opening its monthly meeting with a prayer. The vote to scrap the prayer in favour of a moment of silent reflection was tied at seven votes each until the council’s deputy chairperson, Fine Gael’s Pearce Flannery, used his casting vote to back the motion to…
Welcoming the election of Emmanuel Macron as president of France, the head of the French bishops’ conference has said he hoped elections next month to the National Assembly will not place the country “in an ungovernable situation”. Elected last weekend with 66.1% of votes in the second-round presidential ballot, former economy minister and head of…
Society will be impoverished if religion is barred from influencing public life, while Faith is impoverished if it is compartmentalised and treated as a purely private activity, Archbishop Eamon Martin has said. Speaking at Norwich’s University of East Anglia on the theme ‘The Church in the Public Sphere – a perspective from Ireland’, the Archbishop…
Youth ministries working on a national level in Ireland have reported a new openness from parish priests and pastoral councils to engage with young people. Tony Foy, Executive Director of Net Ministries, told The Irish Catholic that in recent years they have had to send their youth evangelisation teams to Scotland because they couldn’t find…
Staff Reporter Singer Dolores O’Riordan has revealed how her mother’s faith has helped her through tough times and one of the highlights of her career was taking her mum to meet Pope John Paul II. After a whirlwind period at the tops of the charts with over 40 million in sales worldwide, the lead singer…
“Because food is constantly available to us, through refrigeration and instant convenience, we have no disciplinary restraints on our appetites and snacking is ubiquitous”, writes Mary Kenny Like a lot of women (and many men), I’m an episodic dieter. There’s always an ongoing battle of ‘fighting the flab’, as the late Sir Terry Wogan put…
Mags Gargan
Greg Daly
David Quinn
Mary Kenny