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…
Archbishop Dermot Farrell has said there are “legitimate concerns” about the rate of population growth and the impact on housing and essential services, but warned that Ireland has also witnessed the “mobilisation of hatred and rejection” against migrants in its towns and cities. Speaking during Mass in St Mary’s Cathedral, Dublin, for the 14th Sunday…
Bishop Denis Nulty has said Catholic education remains “critical” and warned that schools which remain under Catholic patronage must be “unapologetically Catholic” at a time when divestment is under consideration. In a homily delivered at Loughcrew, Co. Meath, on Sunday, June 28, to mark the birth of St Oliver Plunkett, the Bishop of Kildare and…
A day of celebration in Downpatrick turned to shock on Sunday, June 28, when a fire broke out at the former Convent of Mercy beside St Patrick’s Church just hours after Fr Thomas Hampton was ordained to the priesthood there. Fr Eugene O’Neill PP said Fr Thomas Hampton’s ordination on Sunday afternoon had been “a…
The President of Dublin City University, Prof. Daire Keogh, was invested as a Knight of the Order of St Gregory the Great, an award bestowed by Pope Leo XIV, during the Annual Mass of the Association of Papal Orders in Ireland at Newman University Church, Dublin. Archbishop Dermot Farrell conferred the papal honour in the…
Ireland is a country where the old Catholic world is never entirely out of sight. It lingers in holy wells, ruined monasteries, pilgrim paths, roadside shrines, Mass cards, family prayers, sacred caves and the ever-present Breastplate of St Patrick. For many, these are fragments of a culture past its prime rather than signs of something…
A Co. Laois nun remembered for helping generations of young women in Portlaoise find work is to be honoured with a permanent memorial at her former convent. Mother Columba, the late principal of the Presentation Convent in Portlaoise, has been described as “a legend” for her efforts to secure jobs for pupils in the civil…
A new book is shining fresh light on the life of an Irish nun who helped save hundreds of people from the Nazis before surviving imprisonment in Ravensbrück concentration camp. The Nun of Ravensbrück: The Irish Nun Who Defied the Nazis, by historian Cathi Fleming, tells the story of Sr Kate McCarthy, a Franciscan nun…