The Irish Capuchins’ Year of Vocation, launched last weekend at Knock, is a “natural progression” from how the order was in the national spotlight last year in connection with their 400th anniversary in Ireland and the centenary of the Easter Rising, the order’s vocations promoter has said. “It’s a year to actively promote the Capuchin…
Ireland has enough Catholic schools and doesn’t need more, the head of Ireland’s largest teaching union has said. Mr John Boyle, president of the INTO, later said he was referring only to Catholic primary schools. Mr Boyle also said that despite what the Archbishop of Dublin has said about divestment he doesn’t believe a large…
A Loreto sister originally from Co. Antrim has received the highest honour granted by the Peruvian state in recognition of her contribution to education. Sr Patricia McLaughlin, who has been ministering in Peru since 2000, has been presented with the 2017 Palmas Magisteriales Award on behalf of the Fe y Alegria School where she is…
An Underground Theatre: Major Playwrights in the Irish Language 1930-1980 Philip O’Leary (University College Dublin Press, €50.00) Anthony Roche This important book is not a history of Irish language drama; that already exists in Pádraig Ó Siadhail’s 1993 Stair Dhrámaoícht na Gaeilge 1900-1970. Rather, Philip O’Leary critically highlights five significant playwriting careers in Irish: Mairéad Ní Ghráda;…
Breast milk donations needed The Western Trust Milk Bank is located in Irvinestown, Co. Fermanagh, and is the only human milk bank in the country. It has provided help for hundreds of premature and sick babies both north and south in Ireland, since it opened in 2000. The service operates in a similar way to…
A man signals to police officers from a flooded house after Hurricane Irma passed through Daytona Beach, Florida.
US Catholics have condemned comments made by Donald’s Trump’s ex-Chief Strategist Steve Bannon who said the Church only supports migrants to fill churches, with a New York cardinal dubbing them “preposterous”. Mr Bannon criticised the Church’s decision to oppose ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) programme, saying they are “unable to come to…
Pope increases liturgical translation powers of bishops In changes to the Code of Canon Law regarding translations of the Mass and other liturgical texts, Pope Francis has shifted more responsibility to local bishops’ conferences. The document released by the Vatican, Magnum Principium, noted the sometimes tense relationship between bishops’ conferences and the Congregation for Divine Worship…
India’s Catholic bishops have rejected a bill they believe is designed to retain a Hindu-only state. India now has seven states with a law against religious conversions, after the governor of Jharkhand signed into effect the controversial bill. Governor Draudpadi Murmu signed her approval despite protests from Christian groups and opposition parties, who said that…
A cardinal has ordered church bells to be rung in one of the Philippines’ dioceses every evening to remember the thousands of people killed in the government’s campaign against drug dealers and addicts. The Manila archdiocese joined a long list of dioceses across the country that started commemorating the deaths by tolling church bells nightly.…