Mags Gargan examines the continuing popularity of parish missions Parish missions were a common feature in the Irish Church up until about the 1960s and for many the idea of a mission brings up the old stereotypical image of a judgmental, hellfire preacher. However, parish missions today are a gentler, communal affair and while they…
Youth ministries working on a national level in Ireland have reported a new openness from parish priests and pastoral councils to engage with young people. Tony Foy, Executive Director of Net Ministries, told The Irish Catholic that in recent years they have had to send their youth evangelisation teams to Scotland because they couldn’t find…
Mags Gargan talks to the new chief executive of the Irish Chaplaincy in London Sixty years ago, the Irish Bishops’ Conference sent nine Columbans to England to minister to the thousands of Irish emigrants there, mainly to those working in the construction and catering industries. This was how the Irish Chaplaincy in London began and…
The principal of the Co. Down primary school whose choir got a standing ovation from the judges on Britain’s Got Talent at the weekend, has said the school is “overawed by the reaction that the children received”. Mrs Sorcha Lyness told The Irish Catholic that “to see everyone on their feet was just phenomenal and…
Mags Gargan talks to the CEO of a charity supporting the visually impaired “It is hugely brave to walk out the front door with very little sight and take on the world with effectively just a cane,” says Chris White, CEO of the National Council for the Blind (NCBI), of the charity’s service users. Supporting,…
A Belfast church is set to open a soup kitchen service for the city’s homeless, in response to Pope Francis’ call to reach out to those in need with concrete acts of mercy. St Patrick’s Church in Donegall Street hosted a Mass of Hope for Belfast’s homeless community on Wednesday and will begin distributing food…
An Irish priest working in Paris has said that living under the threat of terrorist attacks has become the new reality for the people of France. Fr Dwayne Gavin, chaplain to the Irish Community in Paris, told The Irish Catholic that there was a sense that the latest terrorist shooting was “inevitable” and “it’s going…
Fr John Carroll from Barntown at the blessing of the roads (for road safety) which takes place annually in the Wexford parish on Easter Sunday.
Maynooth deanery offer Confession in empty unit in Liffey Valley Shopping Centre An initiative of the Maynooth deanery saw an empty unit in Liffey Valley Shopping Centre become a buzz of sacred activity on Holy Saturday, with local priests answering Pope Francis’ call for outreach. From noon until 5.30pm the bare retail unit was transformed…
A pilgrimage in memory of Sr Clare Crockett, who was killed in an earthquake in South Amercia in 2016, will raise funds to rebuild the school where she was killed. Sr Clare, a member of the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother, died a year ago this week trying to evacuate children to…