Dioceses in Ireland this Easter saw around 80 adults baptised into the faith, representing the final step in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) journey for many. Large groups of catechumens in the Diocese of Cork and Ross, Dioceses of Clonfert and Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora, and the Diocese of Achonry and Ephin…
In collaboration with Family Solidarity, Teams of Our Lady and Marriage Encounter, Catholic Mothers Ireland (CMI) will host a Catholic Couples Date Night on April 18 At Armagh City Hotel. The idea for the event “grew out of ongoing conversations about how best to support couples in living out the vocation of marriage in a…
A group of Irish pilgrims spent seven days in Medjugorje during Holy Week, taking in the ceremonies on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. They arrived back in Dublin on Wednesday morning. Pilgrim James Treacy, a regular visitor to Medjugorje and a tour organiser to Fatima and the Holy Land, said that…
In the words of Fr Kevin Kiernan OFM Cap, Director of the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin, a message central to Easter is that “the bad days don’t define us”. “[That’s] only part of it, and it moves us on to the Resurrection and to the newness of life,” the Capuchin priest said. He shared…
Two Derry primary schools invited families, friends, and parishioners to enjoy their interpretations of the Passion during the Easter season. At St Mary’s Primary School in Draperstown, the Passion Play has become “a cherished tradition.” Principal Corinne Coyle praised the “extraordinary effort” of the pupils, specifically the P4 class, who “rose to the challenge” of…
Bishops and other members of the Catholic Church in Spain called for prayers and offered reflections in light of the euthanasia of 25-year-old Noelia Castillo Ramos following a two-year legal battle by her family to try to obtain treatment for her psychiatric issues rather than having her death induced. Since it became known that Castillo…
The Finnish Supreme Court has convicted parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen on one charge related to her expression of her Christian beliefs on marriage and sexual ethics. In the 3-2 decision, the court said Räsänen’s criminal conviction over the distribution of a 2004 pamphlet alongside her Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola was for “making and keeping available to…
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced a new policy to protect women in sports, under which only “biological women” — and not “biological men” who self-identify as women — will be permitted to compete in the women’s category. The new policy, announced on March 26, will take effect starting with the 2028 Los Angeles…
A man has been arrested by police in connection to an attack on the March for Life in Lisbon, Portugal, on March 22 when an improvised explosive device was thrown into a crowd of attendees. According to a statement by the Public Security Police (PSP), at the time of the attack around 500 people were…
The Catholic aid organisation Aid to the Church in Need is warning of a renewed escalation of violence in Nigeria. There has recently been a series of attacks in the north-east of the African country, the organisation announced on March 26 in Munich. It quoted its project partner Joseph Bature Fidelis, a priest from the…