During a pilgrimage with the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh to the Somme in Belgium, Archbishop Eamon Martin pledged to reach out in friendship and “build trust and lasting peace on the island of Ireland”. During a series of tweets about the ecumenical pilgrimage which aimed to mark the centenary of the end of…
A former MP in the UK, who was imprisoned for perjury, is to be ordained by a Church of England bishop. Jonathan Aitken (75) was a Conservative politician before being convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice in 1999. He is to be ordained by the first female bishop of London Dame Sarah…
With just weeks until Pope Francis is in Dublin for the World Meeting of Families, attention is focusing on his teachings and what his message will be to the Church in Ireland. Over the next 4 weeks, The Irish Catholic will publish study guides to the Pope’s landmark documents – this week, Blueprint for the…
A double standard lies at the heart of reaction to the adoption scandal, writes David Quinn In November 2016, ITV aired a programme called Breaking the Silence: Britain’s Adoption Scandal. It interviewed seven women who became pregnant decades ago while unmarried and were forced by the state, the churches, their families and their GPs…
Proposals that abortion legislation ensure there are explicit protections for unborn children with disabilities are driven by the experience of countries where disabled children have been targeted on other grounds, an independent TD has said. “From my discussions with people in countries where this has not been grounds for abortion, they have found a way…
There are some grains of hope for the Irish Church in a new survey, writes Greg Daly Perhaps one of the great ironies of the huge donations from the New York-based Open Society Foundation (OSF) to help three groups push for a referendum in Ireland on repealing our constitutional protections for the unborn is…
The Parish Priest of a teen who was murdered in Louth has appealed for people with information concerning Cameron O’Reilly’s death to come forward. Hundreds of mourners gathered at the 18-year-old’s funeral on Monday morning. Fr Murtagh said the community were in “deep dismay” in his homily. “People were wondering out loud how he should…
Beyond the Breakwater: Memories of Home by Catherine Foley (Mercier Press, €14.99) In these essays and short stories Catherine Foley reveals a great deal about herself and her social environment. This collection is a delightful gathering, and its content is every bit as authentic as Alice Taylor’s To School Through the Fields. Catherine spent her early…
A young Irish boy is getting ready to walk hundreds of kilometres across Spain to raise funds for those most vulnerable in our society. Eight-year-old Christopher Nugent is walking 300km from the city of Leon to Santiago de Compostela in the hope of raising funds for hospice care across Ireland, after having walked 200km to…
Religious freedom groups cheered Monday’s 7-2 Supreme Court decision that a Colorado baker had his rights violated when the state civil rights commission said he was required to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips, saying that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed…
Chai Brady
David Quinn
Greg Daly
Colm Fitzpatrick