Historic trip to North is on the agenda
Greg Daly
Negative view of Church’s healthcare involvement criticised
Many Irish doctors too easily accept a caricatured negative take of Church involvement in healthcare, a leading member of the Irish Medical Council (IMC) has said. Criticising media coverage of the governance conflict between the National Maternity Hospital and St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dr Ruairi Hanley writes in the current issue of The Irish Medical…
Columba Press enters examinership
Religious publishers Columba Press has entered an examinership process in a bid to survive and take advantage of improving market conditions, the company has said. Examinership is a process where companies with solid underlying businesses but excessive debts seek High Court protection while action is taken to ensure their survival. “We’ve entered the examinership in…
Concert for peace in Knock was ‘almost a religious experience’
The ‘Concert for Peace’ held at Knock Basilica to commemorate the 1916 Rising and the First World War was “fantastic”, according to shrine rector Fr Richard Gibbons. Describing the evening as “a wonderful night”, Fr Gibbons said the concert, performed by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and conducted by David Brophy, was the first time they…
Cobh politician shocked at being dropped as Mass reader
A Cork-based political activist has described as “a complete bolt from the blue” a decision to remove him from Cobh cathedral’s roster of readers because of his membership of the Social Democrats, who advocate the removal of the Eighth (Life Equality) Amendment. Cobh’s onetime Fianna Fáil cumann secretary Ken Curtin learned after Mass on Sunday,…
Seeing Maynooth through an artist’s eyes
Art at its best can lead people to see the familiar in unfamiliar ways, and ‘Alive in Hope’, a collection of paintings portraying life in Maynooth’s St Patrick’s College, does just that. In the collection’s 39 oil paintings, college president Msgr Hugh Connolly observes, Galway-based artist Sara Kyne has “caught so many places and caught…
A questionable curriculum
Experts in religious education are uneasy about a proposed new primary school course in religions and ethics, Greg Daly discovers
Appeal court is urged to overturn gay cake case
If Christian bakers were guilty of discrimination for refusing to make a pro-same-sex marriage cake, the law itself is at fault, the North’s Attorney General has said. Attorney General John Larkin was speaking on the second day of Daniel and Amy McArthur’s appeal against a May 2015 decision by Belfast’s County Court which found that…
Govt trying to distance itself from abortion move – bishop
The proposed ‘citizens’ convention’ on repealing the right to life from the Constitution is a ruse to allow the Government to deny responsibility for its recommendations, Elphin’s Bishop Kevin Doran has warned. The bishop’s comments followed an announcement that the Fine Gael-led minority government’s Programme for Partnership includes a commitment to establishing a ‘citizens’ convention’…
Last safeguarding reports are published
The final tranche of reports from the national safeguarding board was released on Wednesday, May 4, ahead of new guidelines for safeguarding practice and procedures being introduced. Thirty bodies were reviewed in the final tranche, bringing to 164 the total number of reviews published by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.…