Dear Editor, At the canonisation of Cardinal John Henry Newman at the Vatican, Prince Charles praised many aspects of the new saints’ labours. These included his establishment of the Catholic University in Ireland – the predecessor of today’s University College Dublin. He said: “His example has left a lasting legacy. As an educator, his work…
Readers of The Irish Catholic on Facebook page have backed Bishop Phonsie Cullinan’s call for Catholic schools to ditch yoga in favour of more Catholic forms of prayer. In a letter sent to Catholic schools in the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore, Bishop Cullinan warned the practice is “not of Christian origin”. In a poll…
Youth Space Youth 2000 retreats are a time for spiritual reflection and growth, Grace Masterson writes If you’re between the ages of 16 and 35 and haven’t been to a Youth 2000 retreat yet…GO! I remember two years ago when I went to my first Youth 2000 retreat, which happened to be their annual summer…
MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST Full-time, based in Dublin The Irish Catholic – an independent weekly newspaper focusing on faith, family, social justice and international development with a readership of over 90,000 people – has established itself as the most-respected voice in reporting, comment and analysis of religious affairs in Ireland and the interaction between faith, current affairs…
Leading human rights campaigner Baroness Nuala O’Loan has pleaded with Catholic lawmakers in the North to return to Stormont to block the imminent imposition of abortion on the region by Westminster. A special sitting of the northern Assembly will meet tomorrow which could prevent the legalisation of abortion coming into effect at midnight. However, MLAs…
Singer Andrea Corr has written of how her religious faith and that of her mother-in-law helped get her through the pain of a series of miscarriages. “I walked and I prayed,” she writes in Barefoot Pilgrimage: A Memoir by Andrea Corr. “And my mother-in-law, Pat (a blessing in herself) prayed and lit a candle for…
Claire Fitzpatrick Well-known pro-life advocate Katie Ascough has described her experience of UCD as being underlined by an “anti-religious” sentiment following their belated decision to send a representative to the canonisation of the university’s founder St John Henry Newman in Rome on October 13. The university had attributed its secularity as reason not to send…
Three Irish nuns who stopped receiving pension payments from Portugal for six months after returning home were assisted by the Ombudsman who sorted the payment issue. The nuns had returned to Ireland after spending decades in Portugal providing education and care to disadvantaged people when the payments stopped. The religious congregation in Ireland explained to…
Bishop Francis Duffy has called for public submissions on the future of the Church in the Diocese of Ardagh & Clonmacnois. Following a meeting last month, Bishop Duffy has begun a consultation to learn people’s views on the future of the local Church. “For the listening process to be robust I am now inviting views…
Saints are people who recognised their need for God’s help, who took risks to discover God’s will and to help others and who nurtured a habit of thanksgiving, according to Pope Francis. “The culmination of the journey of faith is to live a life of continual thanksgiving. Let us ask ourselves: Do we, as people…