Adoration Sisters Sr Martina and Sr Elaine leaving St Peter’s Cathderal Belfast after making their first profession of vows. Picture by Ann McManus
Taking next step in a nun’s life
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Armagh to celebrate ‘Family of Sport’
As part of the preparations for the World Meeting of Families next year, Armagh parish is planning a special celebration in St Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday, October 8 at 5.30pm. All who belong to sporting clubs and organisations are invited to come along in a sports top or in their club colours and join in…
Mourning the road not taken
Crimes of the Father by Thomas Keneally (Sceptre Books, £19.99) Pauric Travers Almost 50 years ago, schoolteacher and aspiring writer Thomas Keneally won his second Miles Franklin award for Three Cheers for the Paraclete, a novel set in the Irish-Australian Catholic community which explores the conflict between faith, obedience, freedom and authority. Half a century and…
Irish lessons for American shrine
The US’s official Marian apparition shrine can learn from Knock, the bishop responsible for the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help has said. Green Bay’s Bishop David Ricken, who visited the Mayo shrine this week as part of a diocesan pilgrimage to Ireland, told The Irish Catholic that the shrine at Champion, Wisconsin is several…
Priest heckled over anti-drugs sermon
A Dublin priest was jeered at by mourners when he gave a passionate sermon against crime and drugs during the funeral of a gangland murder victim. Speaking at the funeral of Darragh Nugent – gunned down as part of a west Dublin feud – at the Church of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Rowlagh, Fr…
Nationalist flags at funeral ‘desperate attention-seeking’
A statement about the draping of an INLA-linked flag over a coffin at a Co. Derry funeral was intended purely to attract attention, an SDLP MLA has said, describing the episode as “disgusting”. Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) member David Ward’s funeral in Dungiven saw his coffin draped with the Irish flag and the INLA-linked…
RTÉ doc to highlight work of chaplains
An uplifting observational series starting on RTÉ this week will highlight the essential guidance, support and inspiration provided by chaplains. The Ministry of Hope series follows three Irish chaplains over a whole year, as they reach out to people at their moments of greatest vulnerability, to counsel and care for them. Margaret Sleator was one…
Bishop criticises Direct Provision as unsatisfactory
The Direct Provision service for asylum seekers is “very unsatisfactory” and the system needs to be more respectful according to the Bishop of Clonfert. Bishop John Kirby, of the Bishops’ Council for Emigrants, spoke at a Mass in London celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Irish Chaplaincy Service in England, set up as Irish priests…
South Sudan war has robbed childhoods
War in South Sudan has robbed young people of their childhood and given them challenges unknown to their peers in most other countries, said the head of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference. “My heart breaks at the thought that your childhoods are being taken away from you daily, but I know that you have not…
Church charities help after Mexico earthquake
In the aftermath of two earthquakes in the span of two weeks in Mexico, Church-based relief agencies have been on the ground providing food, shelter and repairs. The magnitude 7.1 quake hit near Mexico City last week and killed more than 230 people and injured more than 2,000 in the crumbling wreckage. The earthquake follows…