Government plans to ban oversubscribed Catholic schools from favouring Catholic applicants over non-Catholic ones may be unconstitutional, and are likely to be challenged in the courts, a leading expert on the Constitution has warned. Explaining that Irish law allows justifiable and proportionate discrimination in certain circumstances, UCC’s Dr Seán Ó Conaill told The Irish Catholic,…
During a pilgrimage with the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh to the Somme in Belgium, Archbishop Eamon Martin pledged to reach out in friendship and “build trust and lasting peace on the island of Ireland”. During a series of tweets about the ecumenical pilgrimage which aimed to mark the centenary of the end of…
A former MP in the UK, who was imprisoned for perjury, is to be ordained by a Church of England bishop. Jonathan Aitken (75) was a Conservative politician before being convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice in 1999. He is to be ordained by the first female bishop of London Dame Sarah…
Proposals that abortion legislation ensure there are explicit protections for unborn children with disabilities are driven by the experience of countries where disabled children have been targeted on other grounds, an independent TD has said. “From my discussions with people in countries where this has not been grounds for abortion, they have found a way…
The Parish Priest of a teen who was murdered in Louth has appealed for people with information concerning Cameron O’Reilly’s death to come forward. Hundreds of mourners gathered at the 18-year-old’s funeral on Monday morning. Fr Murtagh said the community were in “deep dismay” in his homily. “People were wondering out loud how he should…
A young Irish boy is getting ready to walk hundreds of kilometres across Spain to raise funds for those most vulnerable in our society. Eight-year-old Christopher Nugent is walking 300km from the city of Leon to Santiago de Compostela in the hope of raising funds for hospice care across Ireland, after having walked 200km to…
A prominent pro-life group has criticised proposals made by Labour MP, Stella Creasy, to remove any criminal sanction for those involved with abortion. Commenting on the June 5 Westminster emergency debate on abortion, Dawn McAvoy, co-founder of Both Lives Matter said: “Stella Creasey wants full decriminalisation which would leave abortion largely unregulated. It could allow…
Attacks on the Church in the aftermath of the abortion referendum are misplaced, a yes-voting senator has said. Speaking in the Seanad last week, Senator Marie-Louise O’Donnell said while she had voted to repeal Ireland’s constitutional protections for the unborn, talk of how “we will batter” the Church should cease. “I was educated and minded…
A Wexford priest has warned public about the many hazards related to water he sees each summer as temperatures rise. Fr Tom Dalton, volunteer at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) highlighted the need to be vigilant around water which can often appear safe but is actually very dangerous. “The thing about our coastline is…
A fund for an Irish priest who was beaten, shot and robbed as a missionary in Peru earlier this year has been set up to recoup the stolen parish money used to pay workers. Columban Fr Gerry Desmond was attacked in Lima in April while returning from a local bank to pay the wages of…
Greg Daly
Chai Brady
Colm Fitzpatrick