Ava Westendorf The Purcell Society Gathering or Reunion is said to inspire a “gathering of unity around a surname” says Fr William Purcell PP of Clara. On June 21 through 23, 215 people from around the world who have the Purcell name, most who have never met, will gather in areas of Kilkenny and Tipperary…

Ardal O’Hanlon, Tommy Tiernan, and Patrick Kielty are part of an international delegation of comedians who will meet Pope Francis on Friday. But will they be eating their words in the Vatican? Have you heard the one about the three Irish comedians who walked into the Vatican? As part of the Holy See’s efforts to…

Prominent religious campaigners have welcomed the result of the local elections which saw a record number of immigrant candidates gaining seats compared to a small number of anti-immigration campaigners. Founder of the Immigrant Council of Ireland Sr Stan Kennedy told The Irish Catholic the charity has been helping immigrants take part in the election as…

The general manager of Catholic youth group Pure in Heart, Helen Vysotska, has issued a warning regarding the negative consequences of the Free Contraception Scheme. She said the consequences of hormonal contraception “are very bad. A lot of women who take hormonal contraception have higher risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer”. It was announced an expansion…

Matt Letourneau Dublin’s St Andrew’s Church in the Westland Row Parish has had to cancel a performance by the Dublin Gay Men’s Chorus, titled ‘Pride In The Name Of Love’ which was to be held in the church. The parish was originally slated to host the chorus on June 23 during the Dublin Pride celebration.…

Concerns have arisen as Catholics express their intention to leave ‘X’ (Twitter) due to the platform’s Adult Content Policy changes which state that “Adult Content covers our approach to sharing consensual sexual content and adult nudity”. While globally there is a wave of faithful people contemplating deleting their ‘X’ accounts, Fr Paddy Byrne PP of…

A new Ecuadorian priest in Ireland is bringing the community together to live their Faith and celebrate their culture. In the first week of June, a meeting with Mass and traditional food was hosted by the community at the Avila Carmelite Centre. Fr Jose Luis, who has been in Ireland for four months and is…

The manner in which two West of Ireland dioceses were merged last April has shown that the Irish Church leadership talks the talk of synodality but doesn’t walk the walk according to a leading theologian. Fr Eugene Duffy, theologian and priest of the Diocese of Achonry, writing in the Furrow that “After 900 years, two diocese Achonry…

Ava Westendorf Pope Francis invited more than 100 comedians, including Irish and international names, to join him at the Vatican on June 14 at a joint event organised by both the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, and the Dicastery for Communication. ‘Father Ted’ star Ardal O’Hanlon, ‘Late Late Show’ host Patrick Kielty and ‘The…

Concerned that schools fail to acknowledge insights An Irish theologian has said that “paradoxically, the desolation and desires expressed in the Eurovision performances (of acts such as Nemo Mettler from Switzerland and Ireland’s Bambi Thug)  validate the Christian insight that only God can satisfy human desires.” Writing in this issue of The Irish Catholic, Fr…