Church leaders have warned that unilateral moves by the British government to force the North’s Department of Health to introduce abortion services threaten the region’s peace process. Britain’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis last week ordered the locally-elected government to make full abortion services available no later than March 31 next year.…
Traditionalist communities ‘shocked’ at new measures Ruadhán Jones and Chai Brady Pope Francis’ new restrictions on the celebration of the Latin Mass have “shocked” some Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) communities, but others warn the Church faced “the peril of division” if the Pope hadn’t intervened. Fr Liam Tracey, professor of Liturgy at Maynooth University told The…
Sacred Heart College Omagh wished runner Eilish Flanagan all the best, as she represents Ireland at the Tokyo Olympics starting July 23. Ms Flanagan studied at the Tyrone secondary school for seven years, winning a range of competitions, before taking up a scholarship in athletics in Adams State University in Colorado. She was selected to…
Priests involved in Irish airports have told of the difficulties aviation staff and airport communities have faced throughout the pandemic, describing the situation as “very, very difficult on people”, and have welcomed the cautious return to travel. “From a passenger point of view in the terminals there’s just so little happening,” Fr Des Doyle of…
In-person worship has yet to return to Irish prisons, the Irish Prison Service confirmed, even though a number of prisons are now fully vaccinated. Although public worship returned to the general population May 10, in-person worship is yet to take place in Irish prison settings. The Irish Catholic was told that the return of in-person…
The British government’s plan to ban all Troubles-related criminal and civil actions as well as legacy inquests, has been described as “deeply disheartening” and would “perpetuate pain” according to Irish bishops. The Primate of All-Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh and Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry both criticised last week’s announcement. Archbishop Eamon said that…
The Pope’s letter restricting the ‘Extraordinary Form’ has caused emotive responses, Ruadhán Jones hears Pope Francis’ decision to restrict celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) or ‘Extraordinary Form’ caused a predictable stir when it was released Friday, July 16. In it, he effectively rolled back the more permissive legislation introduced by Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI…
Airport priests have seen a decline in passengers and morale at Irish airports, but their optimism remains, writes Jason Osborne The aviation industry has been much reported as having taken a serious blow throughout the pandemic. Recent figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that there were 85,400 overseas passenger arrivals and 97,000 overseas…
France’s society for the protection of birds has issued a plea for the reconstruction of Notre-Dame to keep the original holes atop the edifice that were home to kestrels and other species for centuries before the cathedral was devastated by fire in 2019. Under current plans they could be removed, the Irish Independent reported. The…
The liturgy during the funeral Mass last week of a man with scores of criminal convictions was described as “disturbing” by the Prior of St Mary’s in Tallaght, Dublin. Fr Donal Roche was not celebrating the Requiem Mass for Dean Maguire (29), who died in a crash on the N7 two weeks ago, but was…
Michael Kelly
Chai Brady