Housing charity ‘delighted’ with progress Peter McVerry Trust, the national housing and homeless charity, has welcomed the release of figures showing that housing completions increased by 20% in 2018. The charity said it hoped the increase in the supply of new homes would make it easier to reduce the numbers in homeless hostels, hotels, B&Bs and all other forms…
As a nation we’ve improved road fatality statistics over the years, an improvement that’s all the more noteworthy considering the increase in traffic volumes. So I’m presuming it’s down to NCT testing, better roads, improved driver training, penalty points and hard hitting road safety campaigns. I know it has an impact when I see that…
As If she didn’t have enough to concern her in her own job, Minister for Culture Josepha Madigan launched a broadside against the Catholic Church this week. Speaking at an event in Dublin, Ms Madigan referred to what she described as “catastrophic moral failures”. Ms Madigan went on to express the view that Catholics need…
Irish priests promise to stand by the people Exclusive Irish missionaries in beleaguered Venezuela have said they see fresh hope in large peaceful protests against the government of President Nicolás Maduro. Although the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart say the situation in the South American country is much worse now than even a year…
Don’t rely on a “fat, balding Irish bishop” to speak out and defend the Church, a US cardinal has warned. It is unclear whether the head of the Archdiocese of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, was just talking about himself, but he sent out a strong message not to rely on clergy to defend the…
Dublin parishioners are being asked to come up with creative ways to help spark faith in parents who bring their children for First Holy Communion but are not churchgoers. In a wide-ranging consultation process launched this week, parishes will be asked to face up to the reality that of the many children who receive the…
A priest based in a border county has condemned dissident republican activity in the area, after paramilitary arms were found by gardaí over the weekend. Around one thousand rounds of ammunition and a mortar tube were found in two hides, approximately 6km from Omeath, Co. Louth, on Saturday. The ammunition was concealed in lunch boxes…
Reintroiducing meat-free Fridays would help Christian spirituality and the environment according to a monk and a professor. The Friday Fast was changed in 1983 after a decree from the Irish bishops which stated Catholics could fulfil Friday Penance by abstaining from alcohol, smoking, meat or some food, by making a special effort at family prayer…
Greg Daly and Colm Fitzpatrick Well-known homelessness campaigner Fr Peter McVerry has said that celibacy has been essential to enabling him to work for Dublin’s poorest and most marginalised. “From a practical point of view, being a Jesuit you’ve a freedom to work in a way that you wouldn’t be free to work if…
Some years ago, I was invited to accompany an Australian right-to-life group to a witness vigil outside a Melbourne abortion clinic. I was staying with one of the women involved in the event, so I said I would. It was a peaceful and respectful gathering. The participants were seated on a wall, or on the…
Brendan O’Regan
Michael Kelly
Greg Daly
Chai Brady
Colm Fitzpatrick
Mary Kenny