The number of Irish people who say they pray every day has increased and presents an opportunity for the Church to grasp, according to experts. The recently-published European Social Survey 2018 found that while Mass attendance continued to decline, there was an increase of 2.1% in the number of people who say they pray every…

The body set up by the State to investigate claims of abuse in religious-run institutions has admitted that its final report dramatically over-estimated the number of children in the homes. In a statement this week, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse said the number of children housed in the institutions was approximately 42,000 –…

There is still relentless persecution of Christians who suffer across the world due to violence and intolerance, with South and East Asia becoming ‘hotspots’, a new report has found. Aid to the Church in Need’s ‘Persecuted and Forgotten’, An International report on Christians persecuted and martyred for their Faith 2017-2019’, found that some Christian communities…

Weekly collection figures at Masses in Dublin continued to fall last year, fresh figures reveal. A total of €5,854,362 was raised across the diocese for the weekly ‘Share’ collection during 2018 – down from €6,330,958 the previous year, a fall of almost 8%. At the same time expenditure from the Share collection – which supports…

Dublin communities must stand up against “evil” gangland violence and not stay silent, a parish priest has said after a young man was killed in Coolock on Sunday. Fr Bryan Shortall PP of Priorswood Parish condemned those behind the shooting of Eoin Boylan (22) in the garden of his home on Clonsaugh Avenue. He warned…

An author and Medjugorje expert has been remembered as an “amazing” and “fantastic individual” after his death following an extended illness. Finbar O’Leary brought three charter flights each year from Cork to Medjugorje in the late 1980s and continued to bring large groups with Marian Pilgrimages in May and September from Cork after the civil…

The ruins of a large Catholic church which operated during Penal times 300 years ago has been discovered in central Dublin this week. It was found at the site of Apollo house, an office block on Tara Street which homelessness campaigners occupied over Christmas three years ago. The developer of the site, Marlet, was mandated…

The outgoing pro-life president of Young Fine Gael has revealed how he resorted to self-harming after coming in for a barrage of criticism for attending a conservative political event in the US. Killian Foley-Walsh (25) – whose term came to an end at the weekend – told delegates at the party’s youth conference about sustained…

The Pro-Cathedral in Dublin are gearing up for a major concert fundraiser to help alleviate homelessness in the country. Kicking off on December 17, musicians such as Red Hurley, Linda Martin, Cliona Hagan, Anna Kearney and boys and girls of the cathedral choirs will be performing, with further guests to be announced. Organiser Orla Kearney,…

The Department of Foreign Affairs will not contact the Vatican regarding their decision whether to allow the Sisters of Charity to sell Church-owned land to the Government, earmarked for the new National Maternity Hospital. Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney was asked in the Dáil last week by Róisín Shortall TD whether his…