The parish of Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone took on an ambitious project back in 2014 with the complete stripping out and refurbishment of the 170-year-old St Patrick’s Church. However, the fundraising and hard work has now paid off as they once again celebrate Mass in the breath-taking surrounds of one of the first churches built after…

To visit Europe’s holiest sites is to connect with a living tradition writes Michael Kelly Pope St John Paul II, during a visit to the historic pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela in 1982, issued a passionate plea for Europeans to rediscover the Christian roots of the continent. “I send to you, age-old Europe, a…

Seán Rogers MLA talks faith, family and politics with Martin O’Brien You are not in the company of Seán Rogers MLA, husband, father, ACCORD facilitator, Eucharistic Minister, Minister of the Word, cancer survivor, before you are touched by the strength of his faith, his steadfast belief in the power of prayer and his conviction that…

With over 5,000 people homeless in Ireland, Greg Daly talks to leading campaigners about the national crisis “It’s very saddening, and a stark reality, that homeless accommodation is still with us 100 years after the establishment of our State,” President Michael D. Higgins said last September when marking the centenary of the Back Lane Hostel…

Sarah Mac Donald Archbishop Richard Clarke tells Sarah Mac Donald about his plans to get the Church of Ireland out of survival mode As the year of centenaries and elections begins to unfold, opinions on party manifestos and commemorative events are reaching a crescendo. Amid the clamouring views, one authoritative voice, with an all-island perspective,…

Pope Francis’ first book The Name of God is Mercy is published this week. Here The Irish Catholic carries extracts from the book. In his almost three years as Pope, Francis has urged all Catholics, especially priests and bishops, to get out of their comfortable church buildings and take the message of God directly to…

Fr Éamonn Fitzgibbon A diocesan synod is both a process and an event, writes Fr Éamonn Fitzgibbon Bishop Brendan Leahy announced in September 2014 his intention to hold a diocesan Synod by means of a pastoral letter entitled Together In Mission: A Time to Begin Again, inviting all of us to go together on a…

Recent severe flooding has mobilised communities to come to the aid of their neighbours, writes Mags Gargan Parishes and dioceses across the country which have suffered the terrible devastation of a month of flooding, are reporting that an incredible community spirit has seen locals springing into action to help their neighbours. With water levels peaking…

Jean Vanier is a spiritual point of reference in the turbulent seas of contemporary discord, writes Michael W. Higgins Canada is a very secular nation, unlike its neighbour to the south. The face of religion is very much a private one. Canada may not have a doctrine of laïcité in theory, but in practice it…

Olympian Kelly Gallagher is passionate about helping visually-impaired children in the developing world, writes Michael Kelly When one thinks of sports that Irish Olympians have excelled at in recent years boxing and show jumping are probably the first things that come to mind. But what about the winter Olympics? Most people draw a blank. It’s…