Warm tributes paid to Monaghan priest Clogher’s Bishop Larry Duffy has paid tribute to Fr Brendan McCague after it was announced last weekend the Carrickmacross priest is to retire from active ministry after almost 46 years of service in different parts of the diocese and in various roles. “Until my ordination as bishop I worked with Fr Brendan in Carrickmacross…
Wifi drive-by Packing your family into the car for a journey is a stressful business. Central to this is keeping your kids, no matter what their age, amused for the duration. So, how do you fend of those salvos of ‘Are we there yet?’ and ‘I’m bored’ when you’ve got offspring who no longer think…
Pat O’Kelly New Music Dublin, cancelled in 2018 due to weather, then partially salvaged last September resurrected itself at the beginning of this month for an action-packed weekend. However, one would require exceptional stamina to cover the broad spectrum of its endeavours. As festival director John Harris commented, “the range of music being performed…
An Irish cardinal has praised Pope Francis’ recent announcement regarding the opening of the Vatican Secret Archives from the wartime pontificate of Pope Pius XII. “I am grateful to His Holiness for taking this welcome step and allowing scholars to examine the records of Pope Pius XII’s pontificate during the Second World War,” Cardinal Timothy…
Cardinal George Pell, 77, was sentenced to six years in prison today, just over two weeks after a Melbourne court allowed the publication of news that he had been found guilty of sexually abusing two boys. Cdl. Pell, who continues to maintain his innocence, will try to appeal the verdict. The court has set June…
The number of reported cases of violence against women in Indonesia shot up by nearly 14% last year, according to the National Commission on Violence against Women. In its annual report issued on March 6, two days before International Women’s Day, the commission said there were 406,178 reported cases of violence against women in 2018 compared…
Religious and lay people have expressed concern and outrage following an alleged letter from the HSE which bans priests from easily identifying Catholic patients in hospitals. According to Fr Michael Toomey of Clonmel’s Ss Peter’s and Pauls, priests and clergy will no longer be provided with a list of parishioners who are in-patients in South…
French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon, was found guilty today of failing to report to authorities the alleged sexual abuse of a priest in his diocese. He was given a six-month suspended prison sentence. French tribunal president Brigitte Vernay declared Cdl. Barbarin guilty on March 7 “of non-denunciation of ill-treatment” of a minor. Cdl.…
A well-known Irish nun has received a renowned international award for her work in empowering young women in the one of the world’s most volatile countries. Wicklow-born Sr Orla Treacy, of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Loreto Sisters, has received the “International Women of Courage Award” for her outreach…
Northern Catholics speak out against ‘no deal’ Brexit Greg Daly, Chai Brady and Colm Fitzpatrick Prominent Northern Catholics have warned that a ‘no deal’ Brexit would be a disaster and insisted that uncertainty around Britain’s exit from the European Union is increasing pressure for a referendum on a united Ireland. Their comments come as former Unionist leader David Trimble…