Ireland’s unofficial chaplain to the showbiz community has warned people to be careful about Covid-19, revealing his own diagnosis. Fr Brian D’Arcy has revealed: “Someone I was in the same room with – properly socially distancing I should add – tested positive. I had no symptoms. I was feeling a bit off but I’d just…
The 4 Corners Festival have announced that their ninth annual gathering will take place online from 31 Jan–7 Feb 2021. The theme will be ‘Breathe’, “emanating from the Hebrew word Ruach which means ‘breath’ or ‘spirit’ – the source of life, inspired by the numerous appearances of that word in the Bible,” according to a…
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has insisted that the ministry of the 19 priests of Dublin Diocese who died over the last years lives on in their parishes. “We miss them. Yet their memory remains. Their ministry is not forgotten,” he said in a homily at Mass livestreamed from Dublin’s pro-cathedral on Saturday morning. “Much of that…
Two nuns and a priest are among the 14 people who are to receive the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad for 2020. Sr Patricia Murray and Fr Kevin O’Hara SMS are being recognised for their work for peace, reconciliation and development in Italy and Nigeria respectively. Sr Louise Horgan is being rewarded…
Students for Life Ireland have criticised famed soap Emmerdale’s storyline which “suggests that unborn babies with Down Syndrome should be aborted”, describing the message as both “ableist and unacceptable”. Down Syndrome The spokesperson for the group, Leanne Lynch, said, “We all know someone with Down’s Syndrome, and we all see the joy they bring to…
A shrine to venerable Matt Talbot has been erected in Ss Peter and Paul Cathedral in Ennis, Co. Clare. The shrine is to be accompanied by a specially commissioned painting done by parishioner and local artist Noreen Flynn. It details the transition points, highs and lows, in the life of venerable Matt Talbot. It depicts…
Irish entrepreneur Declan Ganley has begun a constitutional challenge to the ban on attending Mass and other religious ceremonies. Co. Galway-based Mr Ganley, who has been a vocal critic on social media of the ban on Mass, initiated judicial review proceedings against Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and the State on Thursday and the matter…
The Church is stepping up the campaign to put pressure on the Government in the Republic to allow people to attend Mass in a safe and physically-distanced way. Catholics in the North continue to be allowed to attend Mass and a delegation from the hierarchy met with Taoiseach Micheál Martin last week to put the…
Speculation is mounting that Bishop Dermot Farrell may soon be named to replace Diarmuid Martin as the Archbishop of Dublin. Several priests in the Dublin Diocese who have spoken to The Irish Catholic this week said that they believed that Dr Farrell is the frontrunner but cautioned that the confidentiality of the process makes predictions…
Priests will not face fines or imprisonment if they celebrate public Mass under Covid-19 regulations the Department of Health has said, amid confusion over new rules. The department told The Irish Catholic the celebration of public Mass is not a penal offence, despite Regulation 8 of restrictions introduced to the Health Act 1947 on October…
Ruadhán Jones
Chai Brady
Michael Kelly