Dr Michael Shortall is to be confirmed publicly as the new President of St Patrick’s College Maynooth this paper has learned. Dr Shortall had been serving as interim president since last year when Prof. Michael Mullaney stepped down as President of St Patrick’s College Maynooth in a move that took friends and colleagues by surprise. …
At the opening of recent John Main Seminar in Balally Parish, Bishop Donal Roche welcomed participants by reminding them that renewal in the Irish Church “will not come from programmes alone, but from recovering the spiritual roots that first brought the Gospel to this island.” He pointed to the early monks and communities who shaped…
The Fossa Climate Action Group is welcoming scientific and spiritual perspectives to their November 30 event titled ‘The Web of Life: How do we care for our common home?’. The event hopes to address growing concern for the warming climate’s effect on Co. Kerry’s landscapes. Dr Brendan O’Keeffe, a Kerry-based geographer and social scientist, will…
The Mass of the Bells will be broadcast live from St Peter’s Church, Drogheda, on Sunday, November 23, marking a major cultural and spiritual celebration of the town’s history and its contribution to Irish Catholic life. Composed by Michael Holohan, the Mass brings together music, memory and place, drawing deeply on Drogheda’s religious heritage. The…
In one of her last engagements before her inauguration as President of Ireland, Catherine Connolly led public representatives at the 15th Annual ‘Swimmers Mass’ in St Mary’s Church, the Claddagh, Galway, on Saturday, November 8. The November Mass, which is offered for swimmers in the city and others who have died in the past year, was celebrated by…
16 denominations from the Irish Council of Churches were represented at the 35th Irish Inter Church Meeting in Co. Down on November 13 and 14. Archbishop Eamon Martin and Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy, who serves as co-chair of the Irish Council of Churches, were both present and there to reflect on this year’s theme:…
As papal charity Aid to the Church in Need publish their Religious Freedom in the World Report showing that one in ten Christians in the world faces persecution for their faith, the Irishwoman who heads the global charity Regina Lynch takes time out to speak with The Irish Catholic”s Garry O’Sullivan about the work of…
Pope Leo XIV gave Dublin a birthday present for the bicentenary of St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral that could not be matched. The prolonged and joyful applause when I had the privilege of announcing that Pope Leo had consented to my request and approved by decree that St Mary’s be designated as the Cathedral Church of our…
Growing up in an Irish seaside town, faith and music were as constant as the waves on the sand for the young Michael Ferguson. But his faith, unlike his music, was rather quiet. He was a Catholic in the mainly Protestant town of Portstewart – and has childhood memories of an IRA bomb wrecking the…
Niall Coll likes to say how, had things been even slightly different he wouldn’t be where he is today. This outrageous statement of the obvious is made only partly tongue in cheek because Niall’s experience has entailed many liminal choices, some of them made by others on his behalf. He comes from the village of…
Martina Purdy