Fine Gael have been accused of attacking parish-owned schools in a bid to distract from Government failures to tackle overcrowding in Ireland’s primary schools. Addressing a seminar organised by a campaigning group opposed to religion playing a role in school admissions, Education Minister Richard Bruton announced plans to abolish the so-called ‘baptism rule’ that allows…
Staff reporter Bishop Donal McKeown has said that British Prime Minister Teresa May’s insistence on pushing ahead with a so-called ‘hard Brexit’ may cause many people in the North to consider the future as part of a united Ireland. In a speech this week, Ms May indicated that she wanted to maintain the common travel…
Greg Daly talks to First Things editor RR Reno about what the Trump presidency means “Populism is the spirit of the moment,” says R.R. Reno, editor of the American journal First Things, pointing to what he sees as key to the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency. “Populism has a cultural and spiritual…
When Cardinal Raymond Burke wrote in April that Pope Francis’ post-synodal exhortation on the family did not change Church teaching, he was predictably condemned by those who had been casting aspersions on the document released just three days earlier. “This is nothing less than a betrayal from one who should have offered hope,” tweeted one…
Northern pro-lifers are determined to make the protection of unborn children a key issue in the North’s coming election. Northern Secretary James Brokenshire announced elections for a new Assembly on March 2, following the collapse of the Executive after the resignation of Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister and the refusal of Sinn Féin to…
Among the most consistently interesting religious blogs over recent years have been those on the Catholic channel of patheos.com, with Eve Tushnet’s being a fine example of this. Tushnet, who converted to Catholicism in 1998, describes herself as an “openly lesbian and celibate Catholic”, and writes often on themes of religion of sexuality. In a…
Greg Daly talks to Trócaire’s Eamonn Meehan about his work leading the Irish Church’s overseas aid agency “The whole concept of charity, and Catholic social teaching, is about love,” says Trócaire’s Executive Director Eamonn Meehan, “That’s what drives us.” Originally from Clare, Eamonn went to school in Ennis before training as a primary school teacher…
Martin McGuinness had no real choice but to resign as the North’s Deputy First Minister, according to a prominent northern priest. Expressing regret about Mr McGuinness’s poor health, Fermanagh’s Fr Joe McVeigh told The Irish Catholic, “I also feel he had no real option but to resign given the entrapment he was facing from the…
The head of the Family and Media Association is “almost definitely” going to complain to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland after the Eucharist was ridiculed on RTÉ’s flagship chat show. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Donal O’Sullivan-Latchford said that he was “very likely” to complain to the BAI after The Late Late Show broadcast on…
Ireland’s bishops are likely to ignore plans by ‘silenced’ priest Fr Tony Flannery to celebrate a public Mass on January 22. Redemptorist Fr Flannery, who has been out of ministry since 2012, has announced on his website that he intends to disregard the ban and celebrate his 70th birthday, which will be on January 18,…