The Pioneer Association is setting its eyes on the international scene, changing their website’s address to reflect the growing interest abroad. The lay Catholic association, founded in Ireland 125 years ago, will change its website address from ‘.ie’ to ‘.org’ as global interest has surged, spiritual director Fr Robert McCabe told The Irish Catholic. Speaking…
An Irish missionary in Aleppo, Syria, has said the region is facing the “next level of hell” after the recent earthquake destroyed houses and left thousands dead. Syria was already in a “hellish” way before the 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the Northwest of the country and south Türkiye on February 6, Irish Jesuit Fr Tony…
Women religious have often been treated as irrelevant by Irish historians, Dr Bronagh Ann McShane tells Ruadhán Jones Ever since St Brigid founded her monastery in Kildare, women religious have been driving forces in the Church and in society. Through their work in founding hospitals, schools, hospices and through their life of prayer in enclosed…
Pilgrims on The Irish Catholic’s Christian solidarity pilgrimage to the Holy Land gathered early in Dublin Airport before taking to the air. Men and women from across the island of Ireland are undertaking the spiritual journey through Christ’s home on earth. Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown is the spiritual director of the pilgrimage, which is…
Pope Francis’s ecumenical visit to South Sudan was a “morale booster” that united the country in happiness, according to Irish missionaries. Hundreds of thousands gathered in Juba, the capital, to greet the Pontiff. He was joined by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Rev. Ian Greenshields, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland for…
Although Ireland is seeing a shortage of priests and religious, it is “ripe” for vocations according to an order who have opened a new lay missionary house. Two young women have already entered the house of mission opened by the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal (CFR) in Drogheda in January. Anywhere the order sets down…
Plans to establish semi-permanent hubs for Ukrainian Catholics in Ireland are ongoing, a Ukrainian Catholic bishop has said. Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski told The Irish Catholic that he is working with the Irish bishops to identify areas to establish pastoral and sacramental care. Liturgical services So far, “we have been having perhaps not regular liturgical services,…
The slow divestment of Catholic schools is down to local demand and not the Church, a senior official in the Department of Education has said. The reconfiguration of school patronage is a “slow burner”, Mr Hubert Loftus told the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Education and Skills. However, he added that this “is not necessarily because…
The Song of Bernadette is a Hollywood classic, probably its the best effort to capture a saint’s life on film. The black and white drama from 1942 tells the story of young Bernadette Soubirous. Bernadette – now a saint – is depicted as a slow but sincere young girl, who is given the remarkable gift…
Plans are underway to develop more permanent hubs for Ukrainian Catholics, Ruadhán Jones hears “I’ve rarely met anyone who has come over [to Ireland] saying this is where we see our life permanently,” Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski tells me. “Many are really saying, I just want to go home when I can.” It’s almost…