In August, Pope Francis came to Ireland as part of the World Meeting of Families, visiting both Dublin and Knock. Prior to his arrival hundreds of volunteers had been working night and day to ensure that entire event was a success and an appropriate celebration for Irish families. On August 21, all 26 of Ireland’s…

Forget Clark Kent, journalist Paul Clark is the real superhero of Christmas, writes Colm Fitzpatrick   There’s a pervasive feeling in today’s society that the enchantment of Christmas disappears as we get older, but for television presenter and journalist Paul Clark, the magic of this festive season is still alive and well. The UTV reporter,…

100 years on… Ireland played a role in the US failure to ratify the Versailles Treaty, writes Gabriel Doherty   The exigencies of producing a weekly newspaper three days after Christmas, when combined with an uncongenial election schedule, meant that The Irish Catholic of Saturday December 28, 1918 lacked a vital ingredient: analysis of the…

A feature of the temperance movement from the beginning was inclusiveness, writes Finola Kennedy   “Padre, is that you?…Is there a God?” Reassurance from the chaplain to the dying young officer prompted the reply, “You must be right, but it’s hard isn’t it, to understand?” It must have been hard too for the 32 Irish…

Chai Brady hears about the disparity between Christmas before and after addiction   One of the best Christmas presents a GAA star and former gambling addict ever received was the chance to see a “glimpse of the future”, and just how good it can be. Oisin McConville, a former Armagh GAA player, has often spoke…

Colm Fitzpatrick speaks with acclaimed singer and musician Nathan Carter   It might be easy to think that a national celebrity who has even sang in front of two Popes might be tempted to have a decked out and lavish Christmas, but for well-known country singer Nathan Carter, the true luxuries of this festive day…

Even for those who don’t know his name, few artists in today’s Ireland are more closely linked with Christmas than Belfast-born PJ Lynch, recently the country’s fourth Children’s Laureate but perhaps best known to readers of The Irish Catholic for his work on the mosaic of Knock Basilica. 2016 and 2017 saw his delicate watercolours…

Despite musical success The Priests ‘are the opposite of the Rolling Stones’, writes Chai Brady   Even while rubbing shoulders with musicians as critically acclaimed as Rihanna, Tom Jones and more, The Priests look at it is as an opportunity towards an “encounter” and even a possibility to evangelise celebrities. Breaking the Guinness Book of…

The sisters of Kylemore Abbey are a hardworking group of nuns who welcome tens of thousands of eager visitors each year to their home in the heart of Connemara. The nuns are famous for their delicious home-baking and the wholesome food in the abbey restaurant and tea rooms. Built as a breath-taking castle in 1868…

Gratitude to the stories that formed him drives one of England’s leading Catholic writers, writes Greg Daly   Liverpool, that most Irish of English cities, is still a place with Catholicism in its bones, and a natural home even now for the Liverpool-born writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce. “I have been other places,” he says, having studied…