Eight Cork parishes will be the first to provide a secure online donation system in the diocese of Cork and Ross. In an online statement, the diocese explained that the new measures were being trialled to combat the “substantial reduction” to priests’ salaries and parish incomes. Before the pandemic, “people have made it possible for…

Tributes have been paid to a late priest-philosopher who helped form generations of both priests and lay students at Maynoooth. Fr Donal Daly SVD – who was 84 – died “peacefully and patiently” after what confrères described as a long illness. Born in Fermoy in Co. Cork in 1936, he entered the noviciate of the…

The body of a Belfast priest was recovered from Detroit river five days after a freak accident capsized the boat he was travelling on. Fr Stephen Rooney, PP of St Joseph’s, Trenton, Illinois, and one other passenger went missing on Sunday, August 16. Their fishing charter overturned when it hit a submerged rock in the Detroit river’s channel,…

Watching Mass at home is a poor substitute for full participation in the liturgy, Bishop Donal McKeown has warned. He also said that the Church is held together “not by human strength but by God’s providence and plan”. In a homily at the weekend, the Bishop of Derry expressed the “hope that we will soon…

New mural unveiled as devotion to Sr Clare grows An Irish nun who died while helping children flee an earthquake in Ecuador has been hailed as a saint for a new generation of young Catholics as devotion to her continues to spread. A new shrine to Sr Clare Crockett was unveiled in her native Derry…

An Irish missionary priest who has served in Africa for more than 40 years has said that people are hopeful as churches in South Africa, which had been badly hit by Covid-19, begin to re-open. Fr Seán Mullin CSSp, originally from Kilconly near Tuam in Co. Galway, is a school and hospital chaplain but is…

Christians must resist the temptation to be harsh and judgemental, Bishop Donal McKeown has said. Speaking at the weekend, he likened some of the secular behaviour in modern Ireland to that of the religious hypocrites at the time of Christ. “Our secular world is very prone to precisely that Pharisaic desire to label people as…

Former world no. 1 Serena Williams has revealed in an interview that she has used the Covid-19 lockdown to study the Bible, having previously described faith as her secret weapon. In an interview on her return to tennis following the restrictions, Ms Williams said the virus gave her the time to reflect on the scriptures.…

The example of the Mother of God should offer hope in the midst of the pandemic to people worried about the future, Archbishop Michael Neary has said. Speaking at Knock Shrine on the Solemnity of the Assumption at the weekend, Fr Neary reflected on “the uncertainty which is brought about by Covid-19, the fear about…

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin [pictured] has warned that there must be no place within the Church for “narrowness and bitterness”. He said that Catholics down the ages “have seen believers build barriers of narrowness and bitterness, when they think they are simply being zealous in defending the message of Jesus”. Speaking at Mass in…