Family fun, bluebells and forest trails Getting out into nature is always a welcome activity for the children, particularly in an age where being glued to smartphones or Netflix is becoming all the more common. The whole family could go to Moore Abbey in Kildare for Easter Monday to enjoy a walk, stroll or run…
The commission investigating the historic treatment of unmarried mothers and their children in religious-run care homes has dismissed claims that an underground burial plot was in fact a sewage tank. When news of the common grave on the grounds of the former State-regulated home run by the Sisters of Bon Secours in Tuam, Co. Galway,…
Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung of Seoul reiterated the Church’s stance on abortion after South Korea’s Constitutional Court ruled that the country’s abortion ban is unconstitutional. The country’s top court called on April 11 for a legislative change to partially allow a mother to choose to terminate a pregnancy in its early stages. While some women’s…
As the flames engulfed the historic cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris last night, firefighters fought to make a passage for one special mission of mercy – the rescue of the Blessed Sacrament and relics from the historic church. It has emerged that the priest who administered the last rites to the victims of the Bataclan…
Many relics saved as fire devastates cathedral France has vowed that the spire of Notre-Dame cathedral will rise again after fire ripped through the iconic symbol of Europe’s Christian identity. Firefighters have been praised for entering the burning building to save some of the most important relics in Christendom including the crown of thorns…
At the end of a highly unusual spiritual retreat for the political leaders of warring factions, Pope Francis knelt at the feet of the leaders of South Sudan, begging them to give peace a chance and to be worthy “fathers of the nation.” “As a brother, I ask you to remain in peace. I ask…
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has signed a bill that would make it illegal to carry out an abortion once a foetal heartbeat is detected. “The function of government is to protect the most vulnerable among us, those who do not have a voice. Government’s role should be to protect life from the beginning to the…
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has banned an Irish-born Legionaries of Christ priest from publicly exercising his priestly ministry for 10 years after he was convicted in Chile of sexually abusing a young girl. Fr John O’Reilly was convicted in Chile in 2014 and sentenced to four years of ‘supervised liberty.’ When…
Retired Pope Benedict XVI, acknowledging his role in helping the Church come to terms with the clerical sexual abuse crisis, wrote an article outlining his thoughts about what must be done now. Seeing the crisis as rooted in the “egregious event” of the cultural and sexual revolution in the Western world in the 1960s and…
18-year-olds leave care with nowhere to go Chai Brady and Hannah Harn A group that supports vulnerable teenagers has accused Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone of ignoring the plight of young people who fall into homelessness after leaving State care. Neil Forsyth of the Irish Aftercare Network told The Irish Catholic that he believes Ms Zappone is “blinkered” on…