By Marion Hausmann “Let us welcome Pope Leo XIV with trust, hope, and above all, joy,” the Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell has said, to mark the beginning of the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIV. Mass was held in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral last Sunday on the Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul, mirroring the…
The Church needs to offer clearer guidance on when priests should refuse Catholic politicians and others Communion, a leading moral theologian has said. Dr John Murray of Dublin City University was speaking after a priest in the UK refused Communion to Liberal Democrat MP Chris Coghlan, who voted in favour of a bill in the…
At 86 years old, Canon Sean Rogan has once again proven that music can move hearts. The retired priest from the parish of Drumbo and Carryduff recently hosted an evening of music and song to raise funds for people affected by the ongoing humanitarian crises in Gaza and Sudan. What began as a modest parish…
By Renata Steffens and Marion Hausmann PSNI officers have been praised by the Church Leaders’ Group in Ireland after they faced down recent protests in Ballymena. The praise came as Bishop Phonsie Cullinan of Waterford and Lismore diocese marked the Church’s Jubilee year with members of the Defence Forces, the Gardaí and Emergency and Rescue…
Renata Steffens and Chai Brady St Oliver Plunkett has been described as “unparalleled when it came to forgiveness and forgiving” by the Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin, as the 400th anniversary of the martyred saint’s birth approaches. It is also 50 years since his canonisation. Archbishop Martin hailed the saint in his homily during Mass at…
In one of his last acts, Pope Francis conferred the Order of Saint Gregory the Great award on Martin and Carmel Naughton, the Association of Papal Orders in Ireland has announced. The formal conferral of the papal honours will take place in late August at a Mass and ceremony in Dublin by the Bishop of…
The Church must do more to promote Catholic weddings, says the Bishop of Kerry, after recent figures showed a further decline in the number of couples choosing to marry in a Catholic ceremony. Last weekend, Bishop Ray Browne noted that less than half of weddings in his diocese now take place in a church. The…
My friend’s son worked for a while as a tour guide in the Titanic Quarter of Belfast. Two Americans got off the bus in the dockland area and were quite perplexed: “But where is the Titanic?” they wanted to know. They were genuinely shocked to hear it had sunk. The Titanic looms large in Belfast,…
By Marion Hausmann “The natural environment is a collective good, the patrimony of all humanity and the responsibility of everyone.” These were the words of Pope Francis in his encyclical, Laudato Si’: the very document that inspired Fr Ultan McGoohan to start the Killann Parish Green Group almost four years ago. Today, the group has…
The week before last, I made a pilgrimage to Rome with my husband and children, in the company of two other families. Shepherding 22 children around the streets of the eternal city in 35-degree heat was a challenge not for the faint-hearted. Despite some disappointments (we didn’t get very close to the Pope), and setbacks…
Renata Steffens
Chai Brady
Martina Purdy
Maria Steen