Bishops have warned the Minister for Education not to “interfere with the ethos of faith schools” after she proposed plans to remove rules regarding religious education in national schools. Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan announced plans last week to remove Rule 68 and 69 from the Rules for National Schools next year. Rule 68 states…

An Irish chaplain who played a central role in providing support to those involved in the Berkeley balcony collapse earlier this year, has been named ‘International Person of the Year’. Fr Brendan McBride was named joint winner of the award along with Philip Grant, Consul General of Ireland to the Western United States, for supporting…

Catholic schools offer a “particularly successful model of education” thanks to the social cohesion offered by parishes, the Bishop of Derry has said. Bishop Donal McKeown was reacting to a report commissioned by the North’s Executive, which examined the effects of deprivation on educational achievement.  The report recommends an end to academic selection as a…

A group of 130 students from across the Diocese of Cloyne and a neighbouring diocese were presented with a Pope John Paul II Award at a ceremony in Mallow Community Youth Centre. The students came from St Mary’s Secondary School, Mallow; Patrician Academy; Mallow; St Mary’s High School, Midleton; St Colman’s Community College, Midleton; St…

In this Year of Consecrated Life the parish of Drumlish/Ballinamuck in Co. Longford responded to Pope Francis’ call to ‘Wake up the World’ by arranging a special celebration to honour the priests and religious who were natives of the parish. Organisers said it was relatively easy to put on paper the names and photos of…