“Most young people today don’t have a lot of negativity towards the Church , they might actually be more curious about what the Church is offering,” Bishop Donal Roche told The Irish Catholic. Bishop Roche is an auxiliary bishop in the Dublin Archdiocese and is charged with visiting the priests and laity of the parishes…
There is a real need for good news, because society is wallowing in despair and meaninglessness, the bishop of Derry Donal McKeown has said. Speaking to The Irish Catholic in Derry, Dr McKeown said there is a need for Catholics to develop the confidence to engage as Catholics with our culture, to influence the culture…
If there is a poverty in our Church today, it is above all, a poverty of imagination, the Archbishop of Dublin has said. “Renewal in the faith is not going to come because we adopt some new management strategy that will address our current shortcomings in ministry and mission. Renewal in faith requires a new…
“Thirty years ago, the secularisation thesis taught us that religion was heading toward museum piece status in the West. That thesis has not aged well, Dr Anna Rowlands has said, adding “religion is far from a museum piece and continues to exist, in evolving forms, as a complex, multi-layered and dynamic reality in our current…
Pope Francis famously said we aren’t only living in changing times, we are living through the change of an epoch. He also said “Change is necessary to grow. If we do not change, we do not grow.” Leadership renewal is essential in any institution, and the Pope has led by example with some very high…
More than 242 million students in 85 countries had their schooling disrupted by extreme climate events in 2024 according to Trócaire as it launched it’s Lenten campaign this week. Caoimhe de Barra, Trócaire’s CEO, says “The deep injustice of this is that those who have done least to cause the climate crisis, and who have…
The National Synodal Team has released a list of themes and resources for proposed Spring Gatherings at local level nationally. Revisiting the generalised themes that emerged from the parish focus group stages of the Universal Synod in Ireland is useful, but three years after initial focus groups identified broad themes for discussion, the upcoming Synod…
More Irish dioceses set to amalgamate Exclusive Ireland’s four archbishops are scheduled to fly to Rome this week for meetings with the Dicastery for Bishops to discuss Vatican plans to amalgamate more Irish dioceses. Bishops have come under increased pressure from the papal nuncio Archbishop Luis Mariano Montemayor to move faster on diocesan mergers. Last…
Nearly six months on from its last statement on the mishandling of child abuse allegations, the Diocese of Down and Connor has issued another statement about more failures in its approach to handling child sexual abuse. On February 23 the diocese said it received a credible allegation against Fr Patrick O’Neill (now deceased) in the…
The recent trip by Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry to Rome to meet the head of the Dicastery for Bishops Bishop Robert Francis Prevost OSA (Augustinian) to petition for a change in Vatican policy towards plans to merge the diocese of Derry with the diocese of Raphoe has paid off The Irish Catholic understands. It…