Working Groups prepare to wrap up discussions Conservative Catholic voices have told this paper that recent episcopal oversight of the Irish Synodal Pathway proceedings– what they describe as a “reigning in”-has transformed what they perceived as a potentially open-ended discernment exercise into a more practical and more “Catholic” structure for the National Irish Synod in…
It was 1949 when Michael McErlain first set out for Knock. In those days, the journey from Belfast could take up to eleven hours involving a train to Dublin, a transfer at Claremorris, followed by a bone-shaker bus to the pilgrimage site. “I don’t remember much about it,” said Michael, “Other than the train –…
The AI option on my smartphone, where I go to check things fairly often these days, tells me that Nokia is still in the business of making “brick” mobile phones or “flip phones” — the phones you use if you don’t want to bother with the internet, WhatsApp, photos and lots of other apps. If…
It’s funny how times change. The early 2000s were dominated by the Four Horsemen of the New Atheism, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins. Sam Harris wrote two books, The End of Faith (2004) and Letter to a Christian Nation (2006), and the others wrote one each, celebrating the end of religion…
A video has been doing the rounds online of an Italian priest at a funeral Mass here in Ireland interrupting a eulogy. It is not clear how long the man in question had been speaking for, but the priest suddenly announces: “That’s enough”. He said a boy near-by was sick and presumably the priest was…
Before Fr Luke Macnamara OSB became a monk of Glenstal Abbey, Scripture scholar and Dean of Theology at Maynooth, he trained in medicine. At the bedside, where illness reached into questions of identity, fear and faith, he learned to listen. He said: “There was a huge emphasis on the doctor-patient relationship and listening to the…
A priest’s reaction to the eulogy at a funeral Mass in Ardee, Co. Louth, has been stirring opinions online. The eulogy was being read at a funeral Mass on May 13 in the Church of the Nativity of Our Lady, Ardee/Collon Parish, and was interrupted by the priest, who stood up, saying “that’s enough”, that…
I had a rather dull chicken dish last Sunday for my main meal, and, according to an Irish master butcher, Seán Kelly in Co. Mayo, this is increasingly typical. People are, he says, ditching lamb and roast beef in favour of chicken, because it’s cheaper (if more tasteless). Disappointingly, Mr Kelly suggests that the tradition…
Had the Reproductive Rights (Amendment) Bill 2026 passed last week it would have removed the three-day wait for women seeking an abortion in this country. Thankfully, only 30 TDs voted in favour, 85 against and 36 abstained. Like the Referendum of 2024, it was assumed that pushing further on abortion would be unquestioningly seen as…
Lough Derg’s Prior has encouraged pilgrims to make space for God as the island’s Three Day Pilgrimage season begins, saying the Lord often speaks to people in ways they do not expect. Fr Laurence ‘La’ Flynn, who marks 50 years of priesthood this July, told The Irish Catholic that the ancient pilgrimage remains a powerful…
Martina Purdy
Senator Ronan Mullen
Breda O'Brien
David Quinn
Renata Steffens
Mary Kenny