Tens of thousands of people are expected to pray the Rosary at hundreds of locations around Ireland this weekend. Organisers of the Rosary on the Coast hope between 30,000 and 50,000 people will participate in gatherings on Sunday, October 7, at over 300 locations throughout the country, mostly on the coast but also in churches,…
A ‘novel’ festival idea For writing fiends and imaginative thinkers, this October the ‘Dalkey Creates Writing Festival’ will give aspiring writers the opportunity to improve their craft and help them on the difficult journey to being published. The festival offers writing courses from published authors in an encouraging and supportive environment. There will also be…
Dear Editor, The article by Fr Martin Delaney ‘Is it really unacceptable to label suicide as ‘wrong’?’ (IC 27/9/2018) is both sensitive and honest. It reveals the pain and bewilderment of individuals, families, the community and the local priest, in the aftermath of three suicides. It raises a really important question on whether it is…
Pope Francis has expelled from the priesthood a Chilean who gained notoriety for sexually abusing young men in his parish. The Vatican announced that Fernando Karadima was dismissed from the clerical state by the Pope, who “made this exceptional decision in conscience and for the good of the Church”. Citing canon law, the Vatican said…
A disability-activist group are calling on legislators to ensure that abortion on disability grounds is “outlawed” in Ireland, by making an amendment to the current abortion bill. Disability Voices for Life, which represents more than 100 parents and people living with disabilities, have appealed to Simon Harris to amend the bill. Otherwise, they say “their…
Courtney Grogan Pope Francis began the Synod on young people today with a homily calling for the Holy Spirit to renew hope and dynamism in the Church. Hope can “broaden our horizons, expand our hearts and transform those frames of mind that today paralyse, separate and alienate us from young people,” said Pope Francis.…
The View Martin Mansergh It used to be said that whenever the British came close to solving the Irish Question the Irish changed the question. The Good Friday Agreement addressed the causes of conflict in Northern Ireland, but now it is the British who have changed the question. A border poll post-Brexit would…
A well-known Chinese prelate has dubbed a new deal between the Vatican and China as a “betrayal” of Catholics in the country. For the first time in decades, all of the Catholic bishops in China are in full communion with the Pope, the Vatican announced. Cardinal Joseph Zen, former bishop of Hong Kong, called on…
A Catholic priest has been kidnapped in Niger, near the border with Burkina Faso. Italian Fr Pierluigi Maccalli, a member of the Society of African Missions, was taken last week after suspected Islamist gunmen attacked his rectory in the village of Bamoanga. “The kidnapping happened at around 9pm. According to local residents, about eight men…
The Archbishop of Newark has announced he will not attend an October gathering of bishops slated to discuss young adults and vocational discernment. The archbishop cited his pastoral obligations in the archdiocese amid the US Church’s ongoing sexual abuse crisis. “This Synod is a uniquely important moment in the life of the Church, and I…