Category: Features

The other side of beauty

Leah Darrow, once an America’s Next Top Model contestant (2004), looks beyond physical beauty in an extract from her new book. My decision to audition for America’s Next Top Model wasn’t exactly well thought out. In fact, I had only watched a few minutes of the previous cycle before I decided to audition in St…

Brigid Birney: discovering religious art

Birney has always loved painting. Since she was young, she recalls feeling excited in the art section of a shop and asking for paints for Christmas. “Every Christmas my Santa letters would have been paints and brushes and art stuff,” she tells The Irish Catholic. Just recently Brigid’s work was beamed up onto the front…

The other side of St Patrick’s Day

St Patrick, the most famous of the Patron Saints of Ireland worldwide. Not quite hailing from Ireland himself but from the United Kingdom, he is credited with driving the ‘snakes’ out of Ireland. Or bringing Christianity to the Island and pushing out Paganism if you’d like to be more literal. One might wonder if he…

Spring Clean for the new decade

Roise McGagh reveals eleven tips on making your spring clean a breeze It might not really feel like spring at the moment, with the only hint being brighter evenings. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad time of year to clear out the cobwebs and declutter. You’ve made it through a gloomy January and most…

Working in the healing industry with Fr Conlon

Personal Profile “I work in the healing industry.” “It all began in Bundoran I suppose around 1985,” says Fr Noel Conlon. People would call to him and he would pray with them. Word quickly spread around the area, and “nearly overnight there was an awful crowd coming,” he tells The Irish Catholic. Fr Conlon, known…

Lenten fasting

There might just be something beneficial in our old traditions, writes Róise McGagh This Ash Wednesday falls on February 26, meaning Lent is just around the corner. So, if you’re thinking of sticking to tradition this year, this might be a good time to decide what it is you can live without. Many people opt…

Sr Mary’s 50 years of charity

Personal Profile Sr Mary McNulty recently celebrated her Golden Jubilee after 50 years with the Pallottine Sisters. She returned to her mission in Tanzania for the celebrations where she had worked for nearly thirty years and was a provincial. There were also celebrations at her current home in Macclesfield where she now resides as Mother…

Bernie Kane: an unshakeable faith

Personal Profile Bernie Kane has had a life full of extraordinary moments. For about 30 years he was a radio DJ with Ocean Fm, NorthWest Radio, Q101 and Glencoe Radio. “I should be retired but I’m still working,” he says, for the White Hotel Group based in Ballyshannon. Originally from Roscommon he moved with his…