The winning team from St Mary’s University College, Belfast “gave thanks” at Knock Shrine after defying the odds in an incredible ‘David and Goliath’ football final. St Mary’s is the North’s only Catholic institution of higher education and with just over 1,000 students and less than a quarter of them male, the underdogs unseated the…
Ten questions based on Catholic Social Teaching for Catholics to ask candidates standing in the Assembly elections: What will you do to address the unacceptable levels of childhood poverty in Northern Ireland and the widening gap between rich and poor? What will you do to uphold the right to life of unborn children and adults…
Tributes have been paid to the former Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell, “a just, holy, prayerful man, aware of his own failings” who died peacefully on Tuesday at the age of 90. Born in Dublin in 1926, and ordained by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid in 1951, Cardinal Connell would go on to become a…
‘You bring so much joy, practical help and hope where it doesn’t exist’ President Michael D. Higgins has told Irish missionaries in Peru that they present “the values of Ireland at their very best” through the “joy, practical help and hope” that they bring to disadvantaged communities in Latin America. President Higgins is currently on…
Organisers of the World Meeting of Families in Dublin next year have expressed delight that 900 people have already expressed an interest in volunteering at the event. Fr Tim Bartlett, Secretary General of the World Meeting of Families 2018 (WMOF2018), told The Irish Catholic that while an official call for 2,000 volunteers had not yet…
Demand for pre-marriage courses from the Catholic agency ACCORD has seen a significant increase despite a devastating cut in Government funding. Numbers attending the pre-marriage courses have steadily risen in recent years with an 8.5% increase across the country last year and a 15.6% in Dublin. Bishop Denis Nulty, President of ACCORD, welcomed the “huge…
The 60th anniversary of Diocese of Killaloe’s first diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes was “an experience of mercy”, according to Fr Tom Ryan, the pilgrimage director at Cote Grotto, who celebrated the pilgrimage’s opening Mass assisted by 12 priests who had been among 450 pilgrims who had travelled from the diocese. As part of this year’s…
“God wants us all to reach our potential – this is his plan for us,” the papal nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Charles Brown, said during a visit to Tallaght’s Citywise Education Centre. The archbishop was visiting the centre, which provides educational support for young people in under-served city communities, to meet some of Tallaght’s young…
“Receive Mercy, Share Mercy, and Celebrate Mercy” was the threefold theme of a pilgrimage organised by Valleymount Parish, Co. Wicklow, to mark the Year of Mercy. Stopping at Mount Argus Church, the Wicklow parishioners were treated to a talk on St Charles of Mount Argus by Fr Frank Keevins. After adoration, Confession, and being blessed…
The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland has awarded an Irish missionary nun an Honorary Fellowship of the Faculty of Public Health in recognition of her 42-year contribution to healthcare in Sierra Leone. Mayo-born Sr Hilary Lyons graduated as a doctor from UCD in 1952, nine years after joining the Missionary Sisters of the Holy…