The latest statistics from Northern Ireland relating to hospital-based abortion have revealed that there were 53 terminations carried out in HSC hospitals during the period of 2021/22. This was 10 less than the previous year, but still an increase on the figure from 2019/20. The number only relates to procedures carried out on hospital inpatients…
The President of Ireland has led tributes to eminent sociologist and advocate for the travelling community Fr Mícheál MacGréil SJ after his death aged 92. Paying tribute to him, the President Michael D. Higgins said that Fr MacGréil made a “deep impact on the lives of many people”. “Throughout all of his work, Micheál MacGréil…
At a time when many orders in Ireland are contracting as the vocation crisis bites, the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal opened a new mission house in Drogheda on Saturday. A Mass and blessing of the mission house took place on January 21 and two young Irish women are ready to take up residence in…
SVP gives thanks for ‘immense’ 250k donations St Vincent de Paul South-West Region thanked the public for the “immense” support shown as over €248,000 was raised from the annual car draw. The SVP have said they are humbled by the generosity of the public during an extremely difficult and challenging period. Regional President Paddy O’Flynn…
The death of Pope Benedict on New Year’s Eve gives rise to many possible consequences for the Church. There were stark differences between the papacy of Pope Benedict and Pope Francis, though both based their foundations very solidly on love – the love of God for his people, and both focused on the need for…
An exhibition in Spain shows a hyper-realistic model of the man who is represented in the Turin Shroud, writes Filipe d’Avillez Few religious items have been more thoroughly analysed than the Shroud of Turin. The burial cloth has been at the centre of intense scientific debate for decades, and with each new discovery and revelation,…
To judge by sensationalist newspaper headlines and breathless social media posts, one might assume that the open conflict in Catholicism unleashed by the death of Pope Benedict XVI and fanned by a series of tell-all revelations from his longtime aide, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, would be the talk of the town in Rome — which, after…
One of the great products of the Second Vatican Council has been a renewed understanding of the common priesthood of the baptised. We are all called to exercise our baptismal priesthood through participation, “each according to his own vocation, in Christ’s mission as priest, prophet, and king”, the Catechism tells us. By virtue of this…
A Co. Cavan-based priest from Nigeria has described how the brutal murder of his friend and fellow missionary in his homeland has left him devastated. The body of Fr Isaac Achi was found among the charred ruins of the parish building of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church on January 15, according to the Diocese…
Parents have called for moral teachings and spirituality to be added to the RSE curriculum, a report on the proposed draft curriculum shows. More than 4,000 parents wrote to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) as part of a consultation on reforming the Junior Certificate relationship and sexual education (RSE) curriculum. An updated…
Ruadhán Jones
Nuala O’Loan
John L. Allen Jr.