Knock Counselling Centre are launching a programme to help prevent and treat anxiety in young people and adolescents. The ‘Cool Kids’ programme, available for the first time in Ireland, is run over eight to ten sessions and teaches children aged 7-17 and their parents how to better manage the child’s anxiety. Peter Devers, Senior Psychotherapist said: “The programme supports participants in learning about their feelings, worries and anxieties…
About 1,000 school secretaries have said they will continue their battle for “fairness” and “equality” until their job is taken seriously by the Department of Education as they continue with work-to-rule strike action. The secretaries are at a disadvantage because they work in the voluntary, predominantly Catholic, sector. Secretaries from several Catholic schools told this…
Róise McGagh Prominent Irish priests have expressed deep disquiet at a Government plan to commemorate the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) amidst a growing move for a boycott, including three Government minister. Fr Paddy Byrne parish priest of Abbeyleix in Co. Laois told The Irish Catholic he was “horrified” by the plans to commemorate the RIC…
Róise McGagh Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry has stated that current leading parties in Northern Ireland will miss out on votes in the next election if they fail to come to an agreement and restore the government. “People are more concerned about hospitals than politics,” he said, emphasising the fact that the Northern Irish…
Veteran RTÉ broadcaster Larry Gogan has been remembered as a “terrific man” who had a “strong faith” after his death this week. Well-known priest Fr Brian D’Arcy CP said he knew Larry very well, and met him when he went to Mass with his children in Mount Argus, Co. Dublin – where Fr D’Arcy was…
Readers of The Irish Catholic have given an emphatic thumbs down to plans by the Government to commemorate the role of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) as part of the decade of centenaries. In a Facebook poll, 77% of readers who voted said they thought that such a commemoration is not appropriate. However, 23% of…
Róise McGagh Fr Ray Kelly made his first appearance on Dancing with the Stars as it aired on RTÉ One on Sunday night. Speaking to The Irish Catholic he said he enjoyed it but felt he might be eliminated in this first round, but it’s up for people to vote. “I’m not a dancer…
A respected Papal biographer has called on former president Mary McAleese to “tone down the rhetoric” after she said Pope Francis hasn’t done enough to reform the Church. Dr Austen Ivereigh, who wrote the book The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope, tackled Prof. McAleese after she made the comments on…
Bishop Fintan Monahan is to become one of the first Irish bishops to lead a group to Medjugorje. It comes after the Vatican changed rules which had banned bishops from leading groups before this point, though they were free to visit the Marian shrine in a private capacity. Bishop Monahan will serve as spiritual director…
Representatives from Knock Shrine have been invited to a celebration in the Vatican at the end of this month which will feature the Our Lady of Knock processional statue. The Mass, which will take place on January 26, will include the statue and the Knock Schola Choir. The representatives from the Shrine have been invited…
Chai Brady