The Diocese of Down and Connor honoured the hard work of two priests last week, with Mass celebrated by Bishop Alan McGuckian and a celebratory lunch in honour of their jubilees. Diocesan secretary and Parish Priest of Ballyclare and Ballgowan Parishes Fr Gerard Fox celebrated his Silver Jubilee, and Chancellor of the Diocese Fr Eugene…
A conference on ‘Irish Catholic Spaces: Pasts and Futures’ at Dublin City University will address “the extraordinary built heritage of the Church in Ireland,” according to Catholic Historical Society of Ireland committee member Prof. John McCafferty. The conference will be put on by the historical society at DCU’s St Patrick’s Campus in Drumcondra on September…
“It appears as if the Taoiseach has forgotten his own words that ‘Israel’s violations of human rights are contravening international law’,” said the Priests Against Genocide IRL-UK group (PAG) to The Irish Catholic following their open letter to the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) Governor. The letter addressed Ireland’s role in enabling…
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on July 29 that debate around the introduction of assisted suicide should be put on hold until palliative and social care programs in the country are properly funded. “I take the view that that debate – and I don’t say that there shouldn’t be a debate at some point…
The Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta offered emergency resources to civil authorities July 31 as more than 60,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, straining local infrastructure. In a statement published July 30, the diocese said it was deeply concerned “over the severity of events and the particular vulnerability of so…
The US Catholic bishops are getting ready a nationwide call to prayer and action, with an official launch date of August 18, to mobilise Catholics to address the rising abortion rate and the increased availability of an abortion-inducing drug. “Every abortion involves the death of a child and harm to the mother. Now with easier…
A Catholic-supported hospital in Gaza City sustained damage after an Israeli airstrike hit a nearby residential apartment late July 29, according to the Catholic Near East Welfare Association’s Pontifical Mission in Lebanon and Syria. The blast shattered windows and doors at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital and damaged an elevator serving its diagnostic center, though the hospital…
A question asking, “is your current gender different from that assigned to you at birth?” on forms for blood donors could risk turning potential donors away because they fundamentally disagree with the question, said Michael Aherne on the Grásta Podcast with Bishop Phonsie Cullinan. In a July 25 episode of the podcast, presented by the…
An Irish priest ministering at St Stephen’s Church in Boston has called on Irish to remember their history of emigration as hostility towards immigrants becomes more prevalent around the US and Ireland. Fr David Costello of Co. Limerick said he has observed anti-immigration hate in Boston amid Trump’s US immigration crackdown, and has observed from…
Senator Sarah O’Reilly’s journey to the Seanad was unexpected and accidental, she says. The first Aontú representative to be elected to the Seanad explained in an interview with The Irish Catholic that she doesn’t think of herself as a “career politician”. Recalling her life as a single mom with four kids on social welfare in…