The Irish College in Rome will not be receiving any new Irish seminarians for the academic year 2020-2021. The trustees of the college reported this to the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference after discussions about the future of seminary provision for the Church in Ireland. The decision will be kept under review. This was revealed…
Chai Brady and Aron Hegarty Wexford GAA stalwart Tony Dempsey has called on Gaelic clubs to team up with local parishes to ensure a safe return to public Masses. It comes as the Church this week published guidelines for Masses to be open to a congregation from June 29. Mr Dempsey – a former…
The hierarchy has published a checklist for parishes to assist the faithful in their preparations to ensure that the return to public worship “happens in a safe and measured way”. With the restrictions set to lift on June 29, the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference said the preparations would only be successful if there is “generous…
A body that represents social workers has called on the Government to enact legislation that would allow social workers to legally investigate private nursing homes without an invitation. The Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW) wrote to the Nursing Home Expert Panel and the Special Oireachtas Committee on the Covid-19 Response this week. Amanda Casey,…
Ireland is “not exempt from racism” and we must work to overcome all forms of hatred, said Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick. In his homily last weekend, Bishop Leahy described Trinity Sunday as being about the “celebration of diversity in unity and unity in diversity”. “It’s a call to us all to appreciate, in a…
As parishes we will have to invest a lot of energy in community building as we emerge from this time of social isolation and cannot take it for granted that people will simply return writes Bairbre Cahill You’ve probably heard the story of the hungry caterpillar; well I’m currently feeling like the rather anxious…
Almost a hundred St Vincent de Paul (SVP) charity shops reopened this week, after 12 weeks of closure led to losses estimated up to a quarter of their yearly take. “Our shops are essential [to SVP’s service],” said Dermot McGilloway, SVP national retail development manager, speaking to The Irish Catholic. “There is a fundraising element to…
As parishes begin to re-open for public Masses the virtual space is here to stay, writes Michael Kelly While Cardinal John Henry Newman’s vision of a Catholic university in Dublin ultimately floundered, the church he built in the city centre remains a jewel in Ireland’s ecclesiastical map. Consecrated in 1856, it has remained an important…
Two of Ireland’s charities tackling homelessness share differing views on their forecast of homelessness in the aftermath of Covid-19. Statistics from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government show a reduction in the number of people in homelessness for April with 9,335 – a decrease of 572 from March. On one hand, the Peter…
Bishops in Britain have insisted that a proposed new immigration bill will “drastically alter opportunities” for migrants to “build their lives and contribute to society”. In a joint statement sent to opposition party leaders at Westminster, bishops from Scotland and England and Wales encouraged the British government to consider amendments to the Immigration Bill currently…
Chai Brady
Ruadhán Jones
Bairbre Cahill
Michael Kelly