Michael Kelly is an award-winning writer and broadcaster specialising in religious and social affairs. Born and raised in Northern Ireland, he attended the Pontifical University St Patrick’s College, Maynooth where he obtained degrees in philosophy and theology and the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome where he studied social institutional communications. From 2002-2005 he was an Editor in the Central Information Service of Vatican Radio. In this role, he travelled with Pope St John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI on overseas trips. In 2005, he returned to Dublin to take up the position of Deputy Editor with The Irish Catholic newspaper, succeeding as Editor in 2012. He is a regular contributor to programmes on RTÉ, BBC, UTV, CNN and Al Jazeera. He also have extensive experience offering media training and coaching in the voluntary sector. Mr Kelly is a weekly columnist with Ireland’s largest-selling secular newspaper the Irish Independent and has been published in The Irish Times, the Irish Examiner, The Irish News, The Guardian, Our Sunday Visitor, Catholic World Report, the National Catholic Reporter and the National Catholic Register. He writes from Ireland for Catholic News Service of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Micheal finished his stint as Editor of The Irish Catholic in January 2024 and has taken up the position of Director of Public Affairs for Aid to the Church in Need Ireland.
We have become all too used to controversy in the Church. Whether it is reactions to the mishandling of clerical sexual abuse or disputes over whether or not divorced and remarried Catholics should receive Holy Communion, division sometimes seems everywhere. While it is important to stand up for what is true and beautiful, it is…
The Holy Land – that place where God chose to be born amongst us – can be said to be a ‘fifth Gospel’ of sorts. It was in that land where the dramatic moments of salvation history were played out right from God’s Covenant with the ancient Israelites to the incarnation, life, death and resurrection…
Ask any Catholic serious about their Faith what the biggest challenge the Church faces is and they will almost universally say a variation of the same thing: reaching out and engaging young people. Often when a priest is assigned to a new parish, he will be met with earnest parishioners who implore him “you’ll have…
Down & Connor Faith and Life Convention The radical challenge set before Catholics is to learn a new language, writes Michael Kelly One of the Pope’s closest advisers has urged the Church in Ireland to continue to work to build a culture of co-responsibility between laypeople and clergy. Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga was speaking…
In just over three weeks’ time voters will be asked whether or not to delete the reference to blasphemy from the Constitution. It will pass by an overwhelming majority. Only the Islamic community are likely to oppose the move. Catholic bishops have already expressed the view that God can look after himself. In reality, the…
Next month’s Synod of Bishops in Rome will focus on the issue of youth and vocational discernment. Often when we speak of ‘vocation’ in the Church we mean the specific and unique call to priesthood and religious life. This is hugely important and as recent research in this newspaper showed, the situation in terms of…
Francis is gambling with bishops’ conferences, but it’s probably the only card he has, writes Michael Kelly Depending on where you stand on Pope Francis, his decision to call a summit of the heads of the world’s bishops’ conferences is either courageous or too little too late. It’s certainly unprecedented and the February meeting…
For those who participated in events surrounding the World Meeting of Families or the Papal visit, feelings of joy will continue to warm their hearts. Whether it was in the intensive preparations that took place in the dioceses around the country, the pastoral congress in the RDS or events led by Pope Francis this was…
We’re not great in the Church at telling people our good news stories. It’s a bit odd given that the Church exists for no other purpose than to proclaim the Good News of Christ. Whether it’s out of a sense of humility, or trepidation that past wrongs could come back to haunt us, Irish Catholics…
Former Taoiseach John Bruton has hit out at Health Minister Simon Harris for showing a lack of respect to people with different views on issues like abortion. He also said there is a contradiction in modern Ireland between concern for how children died in Mother and Baby homes decades ago, and a lack of concern…