The Church must “earn the right to be listened to” in a changing Ireland rather than expect the influence it held in the past, Bishop Paul Dempsey has said. Speaking at Croke Park on Sunday at the conclusion of the three-day Walk the Cross pilgrimage, the Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin addressed pilgrims who had walked…
Irish society is “living off the fumes of the past” and can no longer assume a Christian worldview, Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan has warned, saying this generation of Catholics must take responsibility for bringing the faith to their contemporaries. In his homily at the opening Mass for Ave Maria University’s new semester-abroad programme at Mount Melleray…
The beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen is a reminder that the Church must embrace modern media without allowing personality or popularity to eclipse the Gospel, Bishop Paul Dempsey has said. The celebrated Irish-American preacher and broadcaster was beatified today at a Mass in St Louis, Missouri, presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle on behalf…
Cars began lining both sides of the road long before Mount Melleray came into view. By the time visitors reached the abbey itself, almost anywhere which might hold a car had become a parking space. The grass was covered, while emergency personnel and volunteers waited outside as people continued toward the church. The Mass had…
Catholics around the world are taking part in a nine-day novena praying for the protection of human life and an end to what organisers describe as the “culture of death”. The Worldwide Novena to Fight the Culture of Death began on September 20 and continues until September 28, the eve of the feast of the…
Christians from different traditions will gather at Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance at 2pm on Saturday, September 26, for the annual March for Jesus. Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan has promoted the event, which aims to unite Catholics, Protestants and other Christians in public witness at a time when organisers believe the wider culture is increasingly hostile to…
Overseas priests call for renewed drive to foster home-grown vocations Ireland cannot rely indefinitely on overseas priests to compensate for falling local vocations and needs a renewed drive to encourage Irish men toward the priesthood, missionary priests serving in Ireland have told The Irish Catholic. “I’ll serve as a jack. I’ll lift your car, but…
For generations, Ireland sent priests and religious across Africa and Asia, helping to build up local Churches. Today, in some places, that direction of travel has reversed, with priests from those Churches now coming to serve in Ireland. For Fr Anselm Emechebe MSP, a Nigerian priest serving in Kilsaran, Co. Louth, that reversal is personal.…
“The family of faith is the greatest gift” parents can give their children, Fr Willie Purcell has said, as relics of Sts Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St Thérèse of Lisieux, were welcomed to the Carmelite Monastery in Tallow, Co. Waterford. The relics of the canonised married couple and their daughter St Thérèse…
Ardens missionaries have begun work at University College Cork, continuing the campus ministry developed by FOCUS over the past three years. The new Europe-based Catholic apostolate includes 17 missionaries previously trained by FOCUS and is deploying teams to Cork, Belfast, Passau and Vienna. Bishop Fintan Gavin of Cork and Ross welcomed the new missionaries during…