Ireland’s parents and principals are struggling to keep primary schools afloat, writes Greg Daly If there’s a silver lining in the Government’s banning oversubscribed schools owned by Catholic parishes from selecting on the basis of religion, it’s that it removed another distraction from the real story in Irish primary education, which is that the…
Field Hospitals Chai Brady hears from Irish charities living Pope Francis’ call to ‘go where they suffer’ The Church is a “field hospital” that cares for the sick and wounded no matter where they are, according to Pope Francis in 2016, a message that resonated with many Irish charities who continue to reach out…
Field Hospitals I am proud to say that Focus Ireland helped over 500 families to secure a home last year and to escape the nightmare of being homeless. I now sometimes feel there are no words left to describe the deepening homelessness and humanitarian crisis. Since I founded Focus Ireland in 1985 I never dreamt I…
Late medieval Dublin had a thriving religious life, Greg Daly is told With a dearth of men in formation for the priesthood in modern Ireland, and with the national seminary having made national headlines in recent years for decidedly undesirable reasons, it is perhaps unsurprising that different models of priestly formation are being pondered…
A staple of Irish Masses is under pressure, writes Chai Brady Trouble is brewing for the prolific missalette, a staple in many parishes across the country, as Ireland’s national liturgical group, academics, priests and laity lambaste it for a plethora of reasons. Millions of missalettes are printed every year by a variety of publishers,…
Faith-based schools have an important role in the future, but we have to stand up for them, writes Michael Kelly The religious landscape in Ireland has changed dramatically in recent decades. Perhaps nowhere was that more evident than in the contrasts between the visit of St John Paul II in 1979 and that of…
Knock Novena The ‘post-modern’ or ‘post-religion’ era doesn’t exist, Chai Brady hears Modern youth movements and shrines are becoming increasingly important in the ‘new evangelisation’ of the Western world as parish churches attract fewer and fewer people, according to a high-ranking Vatican prelate on a visit to Ireland. Archbishop Salvatore ‘Rino’ Fisichella, President of…
Knock Novena Over 100,000 people flocked to Knock Shrine for their nine-day annual Novena, and with this year marking the 140th anniversary of the Apparition, some people voiced concerns about the loneliness prevalent in the lives of young people. Beginning on August 14, featuring a seminar given by former Taoiseach John Bruton, it ends…
Youth2000 Over the weekend Youth 2000 hosted its annual Summer Festival in Clongowes Wood College. The four-day festival was a celebration of faith, friendship and fun and was attended by 1000 young people from every county and diocese in Ireland and beyond! The four days included celebrations of Mass, Confession, a Praise and Worship…
Dom Mark Patrick Hederman OSB discusses the deafness of modern humanity to mythology I suppose my appreciation of myth must come from not having been to school myself until I was nine years old. This allowed me time to experience the world as a child in the way a child naturally relates to it. Imagination…
Greg Daly
Chai Brady
Michael Kelly