A streamlined form for Irish couples getting married can finally be rolled-out having been delayed for almost two years over confusion about whether the move needed Vatican approval or not. A decision was made some years ago to make the mandatory Pre-Nuptial Enquiry Form more accessible for priests and would-be spouses. Diocesan representatives met in…
Catholic chaplains have rejected suggestions that low Mass attendance at institutes of technology might provide a meaningful way of measuring the contribution of chaplaincies to college life. Following Freedom of Information requests to 13 institutes of technology, Atheist Ireland criticised how third level colleges annually provide over €1.5 million for Catholic-run chaplaincies. Citing an average…
Greg Daly meets the head of London’s new Catholic research institute “If we’re serious about the New Evangelisation, questions about the transmission of religious faith, or disaffiliation or lapsation – which is the book I’m working on at the minute – then we have to pay very serious attention to sociology,” says Dr Stephen Bullivant,…
It was no fluke that the climax to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings – the destruction of the Ring on Mount Doom – took place, as Tolkien fans who pore over appendices will tell you, on March 25. March 25, writes Eleanor Parker at aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com, is “the single most significant date in salvation…
Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, PCPA, known to millions globally as the foundress of the EWTN Global Catholic Network, died peacefully at 5pm on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016, surrounded by the Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama. “This is a sorrow-filled day for…
The Easter rebels realised the need for recognising spiritual realities as well as material ones, Bishop Denis Brennan of Ferns has said. “The 1916 Proclamation is explicit in its recognition of the transcendent,” Dr Brennan said at an Easter Monday centenary commemoration Mass in Enniscorthy, noting how, “it begins ‘In the name of God’ and…
Greg Daly speaks to Aid to the Church in Need about the global war on Christianity The persecution of Christians around the world is something increasingly spoken of, according to John Pontifex from Britain’s branch of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), but the problem goes far beyond perception. “It’s clearly very much getting…
Modern oral histories can shed light on the Gospel narratives, writes Greg Daly Looking back on the Easter Rising 33 years later when interviewed by the Bureau of Military History, Bobby Holland, an apprentice butcher and a member of the Volunteers during the rebellion, seemed slightly indignant. “I was brought down to kill another beast…
The Church’s crisis pregnancy support agency is restructuring its services to meet changing patterns of use, writes Greg Daly Cura Crisis Pregnancy Support Services has announced the closure of its Kilkenny, Tralee, Ennis, Thurles, Limerick, Athlone and Wexford centres over the coming months. All Cura services, including drop-in services, will from now on be delivered…
An iconic image of Our Lady begins a nationwide tour this week that will see stops in every diocese in Ireland. The ‘Pilgrim Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help’, which was blessed yesterday by Pope Francis, was due to arrive in Dublin airport this morning (Thursday). The icon, newly written in Poland, is to…