Young Catholics from across Ireland described Fr Mike Schmitz as a “digital missionary” who has made Scripture more accessible, as more than 1,600 people from across Ireland gathered for his sold-out Parables event at Dublin’s National Stadium. Ahead of the event, St Kevin’s Church on Harrington Street was packed for Mass celebrated by Bishop Fintan…
The deepest spiritual needs of people have not changed despite the transformation of Irish society over the past century, the Prior of Lough Derg has said as St Patrick’s Basilica marks the beginning of its ‘centenary season’. “At the deepest level, people’s spiritual needs do not change,” Fr La Flynn told The Irish Catholic. Recalling…
“I would appeal to lay people not to be clerically minded,” Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan has said, urging Catholics not to believe they must imitate the work of a priest in order to take part in the Church’s mission. “Do not think that you have to mimic what the priest does in order to be effective…
Martin Shaw on myth, maturity and the movement to service From the moment we reach for our phones in the morning, stories compete for our attention: news blurbs, targeted advertisements, television series, political narratives and the curated lives of strangers. Our difficulty today is not that we lack stories. If anything, perhaps for the…
Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Michael Router as the new Bishop of Derry following the retirement of Bishop Donal McKeown. The Vatican announced on Thursday that Pope Leo had accepted Bishop McKeown’s resignation and transferred Bishop Router from his role as Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh. Bishop McKeown will remain as Apostolic Administrator of the…
Young people are “desperately looking for people who are authentic and religious,” said Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan during the Annual Solemn Novena at Whitefriar Street Church, urging Catholics to become “authentic disciples” by living out their faith in everyday life. Speaking to The Irish Catholic afterwards, the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore said many young people…
The Catholic Church is not seeking to advance its own interests within the European Union but to help the bloc remain faithful to the values on which it was founded, COMECE President Bishop Mariano Crociata has said. Speaking to The Irish Catholic after meeting Taoiseach Micheál Martin as part of Ireland’s Presidency of the Council…
For Fr Laurence ‘La’ Flynn, the memory of his ordination is full of light. It was July 4, 1976, the day the United States was marking the bicentenary of its independence. “I wasn’t invited to the celebrations in America,” he laughs, “so I went ahead with my own.” The summer itself, he remembers, was “particularly…
Voluntary children’s care providers are calling for a comprehensive overhaul of Ireland’s care system in a submission to the Oireachtas Committee on Children and Equality on July 9, warning that years of short-term decision-making have left the sector responding to crises rather than planning for the future. CRAVA, which represents Ireland’s voluntary residential care and…
Back-to-back ordinations in the Diocese of Down and Connor have signalled hope for vocations, with nine seminarians now in formation, according to diocesan vocations director Fr Conor McGrath. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Fr McGrath said the ordination of Fr Thomas Hampton in Downpatrick on Sunday, June 28, followed by the ordination of Fr Esteban…