A recent survey commissioned by Accord has highlighted that a majority of Catholics in Ireland still wish to marry in the Church, despite evolving trends in wedding choices. The study carried out by Amárach Research, was discussed at the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference last week during their Autumn 2025 General Meeting in Maynooth. Among non-married Catholics, 60% reported…
The Dublin Marathon has long been an opportunity for those of good heart (and legs) to raise funds for all manner of good causes. This year, Fr Barry White, semi-regular contributor to The Irish Catholic, joined thousands racing the rain-soaked streets of the capital, raising €4,500 for the Vincentian Lay Missionaries (VLM), who support education,…
The vast crowds filling St Peter’s Square for Pope Leo’s Angelus on Sunday might have suggested a papal election rather than an ordinary weekly blessing. Yet among the thousands gathered were more than 4,000 delegates attending the Jubilee for Synodal Teams — Church representatives from across the world who came to celebrate, reflect, and listen to the…
“Over 200,000 people left the comfort of their own home and spoiled their votes purposefully in order to register a protest against how the presidential election was run” Aontu’s Peadar Tóibín has told this paper In total, he said, “317,000 people either spoiled their votes or voted for a withdrawn candidate. Spoiled votes even “beat…
Adapting to the increasing demand for digital news services, the Irish Bishops’ Conference has introduced a multimedia platform designed to share “not only the Good News but our whole lives as well” (1 Thess 2:8). Titled TheWay, the platform acts as an online network where the audience can browse through written, visual, and audial content…
Passing on the faith is not just the role of priests or bishops”, Bishop of Ossory Niall Coll said in a recent pastoral letter. Catechists are people who help others to grow in their faith, the bishop said, and he urged “the people of Ossory” to come forward and begin a time of discernment and…
Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese read a short reflection at the Requiem masses for Fr Dermod McCarthy in Dalkey and Ballinamore on October 24 and 25, 2025. Fr McCarthy who died recently aged 83 was the former head of religious programming at RTÉ and a member of the Radharc film crew in the 1960’s…
Fr Brian D’Arcy, who worked with Fr McCarthy on Radharc, remembered him with deep affection. “We worked together quite a lot in the Catholic Communications Institute in the mid-70s, and he was with Radharc at that time,” he told this paper. “He was a man who played the piano accordion exceptionally well. He was a…
When the Catholic University of America’s National Study of Catholic Priests released its 2025 follow-up report this month, one statistic leapt off the page: younger priests are both more conservative and more lonely. It’s a statistic that speaks volumes not just about the American Church, but also about our own here in Ireland as we…
Last week a judge in Belfast found Soldier F not guilty of the murder of William McKinney or Jim Wray or of five attempted murders on Bloody Sunday, January 30, 1972. Some readers will remember Bloody Sunday, 53 years ago, when 13 unarmed Catholic civilians on a civil rights march were killed by soldiers from…
Renata Steffens
Nuala O’Loan