Thousands of Catholics across the island of Ireland celebrated the 105th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, with 515 public rosary rallies held May 14. Organisers the Irish Society for Christian Civilisation (ISFCC) said the number of rallies is growing quickly, describing it as “a tsunami of graces for Ireland”. “You can…
Irish delegations attended the canonisation of ten new saints, May 15, the Church’s first canonisation since that of St John Henry Newman and four others in October 2019. Religious and lay alike flocked to Rome to see male and female religious, priests and a lay man recognised for their lives filled with “small acts of…
President Higgins unveils St Patrick sculpture President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins unveiled a sculpture of St Patrick and King Laoighre in Sandycove, Dublin, May 6. President Higgins and his wife Sabina Higgins visited Sandycove to unveil the newly installed piece of public art at Otranto Park. The standing stone sculpture, designed by sculptor Imogen…
The Knights of Columbanus celebrated the centenary anniversary of its founder Canon James O’Neill on May 6 and 7 in Ballycastle. The gathering was well attended, with a number of talks from eminent speakers including historian Dr Éamon Phoenix, Archbishop Eamon Martin, Bishop Noel Treanor, Fr Eddie McGee and Mickey Harte. Fr McGee recounted the…
Exclusive A number of Irish bishops have engaged in a listening process with gay and lesbian Catholics as part of the synodal process, The Irish Catholic can reveal. It follows commitments from the organisers of the Irish synod – which aims to hear from diverse voices about the future direction of the Church – that what they…
Baroness Nuala O’Loan has said there is “no doubt” that many committed nationalist voters didn’t vote for the SDLP because of their position on abortion. Writing in this paper, Baroness O’Loan said the SDLP “can no longer be accurately described as a pro-life party” given the way its representatives voted on abortion-related bills in the…
Aontú candidates have praised their party’s performance in the Northern Ireland Assembly election, saying that there’s a “good, solid base” to work with going forward. Speaking to The Irish Catholic newspaper, East Derry candidate Gemma Brolly said that the party “dived in at the deep end” and that the public supported their efforts. “Our performance…
A study that purported to show that non-religious teachers are hiding their beliefs out of fear it could affect their job prospects in schools with a religious ethos has been condemned as providing “no basis for advocating change to policy or to law” by a Catholic educationalist. Leading theologian and professor at Mary Immaculate College,…
The European Parliament May 3 adopted a report on the persecution of religious minorities that has been denounced as “openly hostile towards religion” by human rights experts. Second-class rights The report, Persecution of minorities on the grounds of belief or religion, was criticised by the Catholic Church, with the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of…
Staff reporter Tweeting May 4, pop music superstar Madonna asked Pope Francis if they could meet and discuss “important matters”. The famous singer took to Twitter to ask the Pope for an audience, writing: “Hello @Pontifex Francis —I’m a good Catholic. I Swear! I mean I don’t Swear! Its been a few decades since my…
Ruadhán Jones
Michael Kelly