Meath priest and former Maynooth President Msgr Dermot Farrell has been appointed Bishop of Ossory, succeeding Bishop Emeritus Seamus Freeman SAC who retired in July 2016. Born in Westmeath in 1954, Msgr Farrell studied at St Finian’s College, Mullingar, before earning a BSc degree and beginning his studies for the priesthood in Maynooth, being ordained…
Warm welcome for Peyton nomination A step to sainthood for the famous Irish-born ‘Rosary Priest’ Fr Patrick Peyton has been welcomed by leading figures in promoting the Rosary in Ireland. Mayo-born Fr Peyton moved to the USA at the age of 19 in 1928, joining the Congregation of Holy Cross, later founding the Family…
Irish people are well-placed to understand and help migrants and refugees, Limerick’s Bishop Brendan Leahy has said, describing Pope Francis’ call for migrants to be welcomed into our communities as a ‘pressing invitation’ for Catholics. In a homily in St Nessan’s Church, Raheen, on January 1, the Church’s 51st World Day of Peace, Bishop Leahy…
Only half the recommendations from State’s working group on asylum seekers have been implemented or initiated, according to the Irish Immigrant Support Centre. An audit by Nasc of the Government’s progress in implementing the recommendations in the July 2015 report compiled by the Working Group on the Protection Process and Direct Provision, chaired by retired…
A prominent Belfast-based priest has rejected attempts to turn an open letter he signed on the issue of Brexit into a push for abortion in the North. Passionist Fr Gary Donegan was one of 200 leading figures in the broader nationalist community who signed the letter to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar expressing “frustration and growing concern…
“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist,” says Kevin Spacey’s Keyser Söze in 1996’s The Usual Suspects. It was, writes Tracy Robey at racked.com, a vision of evil – hidden in plain sight and wearing utterly forgettable clothes – “that captured pop culture’s imagination”. Trumping other 1990s takes…
Not everyone has someone to ‘look out for’ or care for them Irish Church-goers have been urged to use the Christmas period to try and lighten the burden on people in their communities who may be suffering or feeling vulnerable. In a joint Christmas message Primate of All-Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin and his Church…
It may now be time for the Gardaí to act on the murky world of foreign funding of political campaigns in Ireland, writes Greg Daly “As you will appreciate, ‘garnering support for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution’ clearly falls within the definition of political purpose,” the Standards in Public…
Pope Francis’ missionary approach echoes that of St Vincent de Paul, Greg Daly learns NUI Galway’s Dr Alison Forrestal hadn’t planned on writing a book to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the Vincentian charism’s birth when she started work on St Vincent de Paul. She was simply, she says, “working as a scholar…
The Pope’s failure to replace the expert members of the Pontifical Council for the Protection of Minors speaks of a worrying lack of urgency around the issue, campaigner Marie Collins has said. Mrs Collins noted her “surprise” at how the commission’s Fr Hans Zollner had revealed on Twitter that the commission’s new term would not…