Fergal Horgan and the challenges facing the GAA There are countless names that spring to mind when we think of the players who have illuminated our games across the 141 years of the GAA. In every generation, in every position, the list of stars feels endless. Yet perhaps the most important figure of all is…
The Gospel – Here is the Lamb of God! John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me…
By the time you read this, I should have arrived in Victoria, BC, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. The plan was that I would fly all the way from Dublin to Vancouver, on Canada’s west coast, and then take the hour-and-a-half-long ferry ride out to the island, which is to be my home…
The Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, has said that “the days of the Catholic Church seeking to kind of dominate debate they’re over,” while insisting that churches and faith groups still have an important role to play in public life and in supporting the State on major policy issues. Speaking with this paper, Archbishop Martin…
The Bishop of Meath Dr Tom Deenihan has made a robust defence of Catholic education, praising those who work in the sector and rejecting those who argue Catholic schools are places of indoctrination. “A Catholic school, if it were to be biased at all, would share the bias of Christ; the weak, the poor, the…
As the Jubilee Year of Hope draws to a close, priests at Ireland’s major pilgrimage sites say conversations are already under way about what might come next, following a year in which Knock, Lough Derg and Croagh Patrick were linked through a shared pilgrim passport and commemorative pin that encouraged cooperation and renewed interest in…
The permanent diaconate in Ireland is steadily growing, with new ordinations, expanding formation programmes and increasing confidence about the role deacons play in the life of the Church. Fr Eddie McGee, national director of the permanent diaconate, said that 26 men were ordained this year alone, bringing the total number of ordained deacons in Ireland…
The Christian Mayor of Bethlehem, Maher Nicola Canawati, has invited Irish pilgrims to return to the Holy Land in a message sent to The Irish Catholic. Mr Canawati met with Irish pilgrims during the first Christmas celebration in Bethlehem since the Gaza War outbreak on October 7, 2023. “From the City of the Prince of…
Bishop Fintan Gavin has said a year-long process of prayer, listening and discernment across the Diocese of Cork and Ross is now providing a clear pastoral direction for the year ahead. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, the bishop said the initiative, which began in September with the feast of St Finbarr at Gougane Barra, was…
The Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, has said preparations for a diocesan congress have revealed a level of interest among young people that has been both encouraging and uplifting, challenging assumptions about disengagement from faith and church life. Speaking about the process of organising the Armagh diocesan congress, Archbishop Martin said deliberate efforts were made…
Renata Steffens