Jesus asked us for a plain answer: “All you need say is ‘Yes’ if you mean yes, ‘No’ if you mean no.” After five years of planning and deliberation, delegates at Saturday’s National Synodal Assembly were essentially offered to vote “Yes, yes”, or “Yes”, or “Yes, but not now”: highly recommend, recommend, or requires further…
Assembly decisions should not be presented as ‘authentic voice’ of Irish Catholics The Synodal Pathway is “offering the Church here little more than a political-type programme”, a senior priest has warned on the eve of its National Assembly in Gormanston. Fr Andrew McMahon, a Dromore priest, writer and commentator, said the proposals going before…
The President of the Legion of Mary has welcomed the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, recalling an address in which the American broadcaster-bishop called the Dublin-founded movement “my favourite group”. Sheen was declared Blessed at a Mass in St Louis on Thursday, September 24. Declan Lawlor, President of the Legion of Mary said he…
You know the story, three times, on the shore of lake Galilee after the resurrection, Christ asks Peter the same question, and three times Peter answers, and three times comes the same command: feed my sheep. It’s a commission to the whole Church, handed to a single, frightened, newly-forgiven married fisherman. Two thousand years later,…
Newry Cathedral is preparing to welcome people from across the Diocese and beyond for a special nine-day Solemn Novena to St Carlo Acutis, taking place from Sunday October 4 to Monday October 12, 2026. Under the theme “Growing in Faith”, the Novena will provide an opportunity for people to come together in prayer and to…
Two things happened in Catholic education this month, and read together they tell an uncomfortable story — not about the Church’s willingness to change, but about the State’s. On October 16, the Catholic Education Partnership (CEP) will launch the ‘Irish Church’s new Vision for Catholic Schools in Ireland’, the opening move in a three-year formation process that the Association of Patrons…
Draft working document sets out proposals ahead of National Synodal Assembly A draft working document setting out proposals for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Ireland, seen by The Irish Catholic, has been prepared ahead of the National Synodal Assembly, which takes place in Gormanston, Co. Meath, on October 17. The document, marked ‘draft’…
The Church should welcome everyone who comes through its doors and that is the true spirit of inclusivity, says internationally recognised psychotherapist Stella O’Malley. But, she says, having seen a draft set of proposals from the Irish Synod Working Group, the Church is “cheerleading practices that risk serious harm to vulnerable people. It should be…
The former PSNI Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Baroness Nuala O’Loan has welcomed the news that two Belfast priests shot dead by the British Army have had their cases opened for potential recognition of sainthood by the bishop. “I am so very pleased to hear that Bishop McGuckian has initiated the process ‘for the cause of saints’ and…
The future of the Irish Church Last week we argued that the Irish Church is managing decline rather than deciding what it wants to become. The question left hanging was what a real answer would look like. What we have actually done about the collapse in priest numbers can nearly be accounted for in three…