The Archdiocese of Dublin hosted its ‘Parishes Caring For Creation’ conference over the weekend to discuss how parishes can better react to the challenges associated with climate change. Conference organisers said: “In the midst of environmental crisis, how can parish communities care more deeply for God’s creation? Join us for a day to equip yourself…
Well-known businessman Ben Dunne, who died aged 74 on Sunday, had a prayer he said every day. The controversial former chief executive of Dunnes Stores, who also built a chain of gyms, died during a trip to Dubai. During an interview with RTÉ in 2021 regarding the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic Mr Dunne said…
Dedicated football fan Bishop Tony Farquhar will “long be remembered for his disarming presence, his affectionate smile and his pastoral charity”, according to Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry diocese following his death last week. The late Belfast-born Bishop Farquhar, one of the longest serving bishops in Ireland’s history, famously set up the meeting between the…
A parish priest who snuffed out a fire set deliberately at the door of his church in Ballymoney welcomed messages of support from parishioners and the community. The arsonist targeted the side door of the Church of Our Lady and St Patrick at approximately 9.45pm on Sunday. Fr Damian McCaughan PP said he heard the…
Thirty-six men from dioceses across Ireland enrolled in this year’s weekend gathering from November 18-19, in the national seminary of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, to help discern a priestly vocation. According to Fr Willie Purcell, director of the National Vocations Office of the Irish Bishops’ Conference: “The weekend offers those discerning a vocation to the…
Nobody is making moral appeals to Hamas in Gaza, because it is “incapable of moral responsibility, being a terrorist organisation that would prefer every Gazan die provided every Israeli died too”, according to an Irish Jesuit theologian based in the US. Fr Séamus Murphy SJ, an expert in ‘just war’ doctrine and Associate Professor of…
An engagement between an expert invited to the Oireachtas to discuss euthanasia and a senator has been sharply criticised following a video clip of the exchange reaching millions of people online, with concern expressed about the integrity of the process. The exchange saw internationally renowned law boffin Prof. Dr William Binchy being described as a…
The Bishop of Derry has warned that a question asked in the recently published Good Relations Indicator report conducted by the Executive Office regarding mixed education, was “simplistic” and received a “simplistic answer, which doesn’t move us forward”. People were asked whether they “would prefer mixed religion neighbourhoods, workplaces, and schools”. The responses were: 89% of adult…
Relations between Catholics and Protestants seem to be fraying in the North, Chai Brady writes Good relations between Catholics and Protestants in the North have decreased substantially according to the latest statistics from the Executive. A number of factors are influencing this decline – including the fact that since 2021 questions have been changed in…
Newer Catholic communities who have made their homes in Ireland in recent years can help Irish Catholics rediscover their own faith, chaplains to these communities have said.