The clerical church is dying, says Fr Brian D’Arcy, now marking 50 years as an ordained priest, “and it’s not such a tragedy.” The celibate priesthood is over: the male priesthood is over. This is “a gift of the Holy Spirit” and out of such a transformation can come new seeds of life. Well, he’s…
The View There has been much discussion of misogyny in the Church following Mary McAleese’s most recent assertion that the Church has become a “primary global carrier of the toxic virus of misogyny”, and “a male bastion of patronising platitudes to which Pope Francis has added his own quota”. She had previously described the Catholic…
The establishment never misses opportunity to demonise the nuns and to blacken their reputations, writes David Quinn Dr Peter Boylan, one of the chief campaigners in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment, has been on the warpath again over the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital from Holles Street to the Blackrock Campus of St…
Exclusive Radical plan will see Masses cut by 1/3 Unveiling a new plan that will see Masses cut in a bid to enliven congregations and enhance liturgy, Bishop Dermot Farrell has said that the vocations crisis is really a crisis of faith that will not be solved by making celibacy optional. Speaking exclusively to The…
The SDLP, who saw themselves as the moral voice of many Northern Catholics, now inhabit the same political space as their erstwhile competitors, writes Pól Ó Muirí By the standards of Catholic bishops in the North, the statement was robust. Issued at the end of October in response to the introduction of new laws…
The women’s confraternity at Clonard Monastery in west Belfast is to close after more than 120 years. The 122-year-old Belfast association, which drew thousands of members when it was set up in July 1897, will meet for the final time on November 24 with a closing Mass. Fr Peter Burns, Rector of Clonard, said the…
The Bolivian bishops have urged an end to the vandalism that has taken place following the resignation of president Evo Morales on Sunday. Supporters of Morales have clashed with police in several cities. In a November 10 message, the bishops’ conference, along with several civic groups, encouraged “Bolivians to peace and to not commit acts…
Nearly three quarters of Catholics in the US are not opposed to couples cohabiting before marriage, despite the Church’s moral teaching. A new survey by the Pew Research Centre reports that Americans as a whole are very accepting of unmarried couples living together, even if they have no plans to marry. Additionally, Pew found that…
We should save money and just let Micheál Martin vote 44 times on each Dáil vote, writes John McGuirk Watching the House of Commons in recent weeks, at the height of Brexitmania, probably the most unfamiliar part of it to those of us who observe Irish politics was the way in which the result…
Moves to produce hate crime legislation have been likened to new “secular blasphemy laws”, which threaten freedom of speech, according to a Tipperary TD. Mattie McGrath spoke to The Irish Catholic after he made comments criticising legislation regarding hate speech in the Dáil last week. During a debate on Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related…
Mary Kenny
Nuala O’Loan
David Quinn
Chai Brady