World renowned Irish-Sierra Leonean musician Loah has opened up about how Christ’s love helps her cope with pressures of publicity. The singer-songwriter was raised Catholic but fell away, telling The Sunday Independent that she realised she couldn’t go through life without a raft, and turned back to Christ. “It was a really physical, embodied, deep…
Despite Ireland rising in the human trafficking watchlist, we have a lot to do, Ruadhán Jones hears This year, for the first time since 2017, Ireland has risen in the annual Trafficking in Persons report’s ranking, from Tier 2 Watchlist to Tier 2. And yet, the report, conducted by the State Department in the US,…
A reception was held at Bishop’s House, John’s Hill, in the diocese of Waterford and Lismore July 28 for the Ukrainian Community in Waterford City and County. It was organised by Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan, the Red Cross and Little Nellie’s Baby Bank. The crowd gathered in thanksgiving for their safe arrival in Ireland and in…
Personal Profile Music and the Faith have been a part of Marcella Walsh’s life from a very young age. It began with singing grace around the dinner table as a child, and continues today as director of music at Queen’s University Belfast’s Catholic chaplaincy and as a professional opera singer. Marcella’s family were always involved…
Youth 2000 held their annual summer festival in person again for the first time in three years. Hundreds of young people attended the celebration of faith in Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare, which centred on Jesus in the Eucharist. “It was such a blessing to see so many young people and so much faith,” said…
Synod not about giving space for loud voices – Bishop McKeown The synodal process is not about giving space for loud voices, it’s for people attuned to the Spirit, Bishop Donal McKeown has said. Speaking in his homily August 7, the bishop of Derry said we “commit ourselves to journeying in hope”, trusting that we…
Pop music and Grease star Olivia Newton-John made a pact with God to save her daughter Chloe’s life while she was pregnant, she said in a final interview before she died. Ms Newton-John, who died peacefully aged 73 on Monday, revealed in an interview with A Life of Greatness that she was “close to losing”…
The biggest barriers to effective Relationship and Sexual Education (RSE) are teacher confidence and competence, not ethos, the NCCA have said. Dr Patrick Sullivan said the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment found “school ethos is not in fact the barrier that it is often perceived to be”, following a review on the delivery of…
Conservative Catholic communities offer tight-knit Catholic networks, writes Ruadhán Jones Raymond Friel, an English Catholic academic, caused a bit of a stir on Twitter recently when he questioned why young priests are drawn to what looks like a Church imagined from the 1950s “soutanes in the high street, etc.” It’s an interesting question, one which…
Pro-lifers will resist any attempts to use new ‘exclusion zones’ legislation to ban the largest pro-life event of the year, the Life Institute have said. Niamh Uí Bhriain told The Irish Catholic that such an interpretation of the legislation would be extreme and “malicious”. “That would have profoundly important implications for the right to protest…