Bishop of Clogher Larry Duffy has warned that providing a priest for every parish is becoming increasingly difficult, as more than half of the diocese’s priests are now aged over 70. Announcing diocesan changes for 2026, Bishop Duffy said 53% of priests are over 70, while only 21 are under 65 and nine under 60.“The…
Some years ago, as a diplomat at the Irish Embassy in Lisbon, I went ‘on mission’ to Rio de Janeiro because back then the Embassy also handled relations with Brazil. Following my return to Lisbon from one such expedition, I headed straight to a reception at the house of a Finnish colleague and spoke enthusiastically…
I admit to being confused. I had been reading a lot of hyperbolic assessments of the first Action Plan for the National Strategy for Women and Girls. The strategy, launched last November, runs from 2025 to 2030, became news with the launch of its first ‘Action Plan’ covering the years 2028 to 2030. A three-year…
As Mayo’s footballers were heading Westwards with the Sam Maguire cup, I was making my way to the Accident & Emergency unit of Beaumont Hospital to get my acute stroke treated. If you have never been there, recall the railroad scene in Gone With the Wind, where dead and dying Confederate soldiers litter the ground…
The Deputy Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Cllr Catherine McDaid has launched a new initiative at St Augustine’s Church Hall. Named ‘Pilgrims Together Trail’, the initiative offers pilgrims an opportunity to walk in the footsteps of St Columba and discover stories behind 1,500 years of Christian worship across Derry City. The trail…
For many people in rural Sierra Leone, nightfall still signals the effective end of the day. “Life largely finishes at six o’clock when it gets dark,” Trócaire CEO Seán Farrell told The Irish Catholic, just days after returning from Kambia in northern Sierra Leone. However, in thousands of homes across the rural district, things are…
The parish priest in Palestine’s last entirely Christian village has said that Israeli settlers are creating a “climate of fear” with the intention of driving locals from their land. In an interview with Vatican News, Fr Bashar Fawadleh from Taybeh explained the immense pressure locals were under from settlers, including intimidation, seizures of properties, and efforts to…
Pope Leo XIV highlighted religious women’s and men’s work making “the mission and mystery of the Church visible in our world.” “All Christians are called to be builders of Christ’s communion, formed in a synodal Church in which everyone cooperates in the same mission according to their own charism and ministry,” he said during the Leadership…
One Sabbath Day, Jesus entered the synagogue. Knowing that there was a man there with a deformity, Jesus’ opponents were keeping a careful eye on him, to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath. Jesus was being watched. The first commandment of biblical religion is not ‘watch,’ but ‘listen,’ or ‘hear’: “Hear,…
In a few days time we celebrate the anniversary of the Knock apparition that took place on the evening of August 21, 1879. That is nearly 150 years ago. On the west facing wall of the same parish chapel in Knock on which the apparition appeared, one can see a plaque dating from the early…
Renata Steffens
Fr John McCarthy