Staff and patients are upset at the removal of all Catholic imagery from St Vincent’s University Hospital, after the hospital’s controversial transfer from the Religious Sisters of Charity (RSC). All crucifixes and holy images – including of the hospital’s founder Mother Mary Aikenhead – were removed from public display this year in the hospital, while…
Staff morale at Mary Immaculate College has been “damaged” by the lack of transparency around the failure to appoint a new Head of Theology, a senior lecturer has said. Despite two rounds of interviews since September 2022, MIC has failed to find a new head for its theology department, meaning the department has been without…
A parish in Kerry diocese is facing a bill of €100,000 for restorations and has released a plea to former parishioners and descendants of the parish to offer their support. The Sacred Heart Church in Glengarriff, Co. Cork, is “at the heart of our parish”, Fr Niall Howard told The Irish Catholic, adding it is…
The war in Ukraine “can be stopped in a day”, just as the Soviet Union fell in three days, a chaplain to Ukrainian Catholics in Ireland has said. Giving hope to those who fled the war in Ukraine “is very, very challenging”, Fr Vasyl Kornitsky has said, but warned that despair is “a very dangerous…
Faith in film What’s a western doing on a Vatican film list? A genre that typically praises the triumph of individualism and a non-conformist Protestant culture might seem ‘anathema’. But Stetsons, stoic heroes, fantastic landscapes and engaging action have some Vatican sanction with its inclusion of the iconic western Stagecoach (1939) on a 1995 list…
A volatile situation in Cameroon means an Irish nun cannot visit her family, Ruadhán Jones hears. Sr Angèle Nkamsi MSHR, an Irish citizen since 2013, cannot visit her home in Cameroon due to the volatile political situation in the country, she told The Irish Catholic. The last time the Holy Rosary sister visited Cameroon in…
Paramilitary-style groups use the “romantic perspective” of past violence to “radicalise and divide society so people can stay in positions of powers,” a Belfast youth worker has said. However, Mr Stephan Hughes warned that it is not just paramilitaries who are the problem, saying it is also “politicians who cosy up to these people, get…
Leaders of a university teachers’ union are to raise concerns with Mary Immaculate College (MIC) authorities after this newspaper revealed that staff feel they are being kept “in the dark” over a historic alignment process with another college. A spokesperson for the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) said the body “intend to discuss the…
People not expecting to pay a donation for Baptisms and weddings is “not fair” on parishioners who regularly support their local church, priests have said. It is “common sense” that parish churches need financial assistance to survive, said Fr Michael Toomey, saying people forget “you have to heat and light and insure the church”. Parishioners…
The Government has to learn from the protests in Inch, Co. Clare, regarding housing of refugees in the area, Bishop Fintan Monahan has said. Bishop Monahan visited the town and met with protestors and refugees after controversy erupted over a barricade that blocked refugees from being housed in a former hotel. He said there’s learning…