Mark Patrick Hederman In a homily delivered in Belfast’s St Anne’s Cathedral, Mark Patrick Hederman OSB, reflects on the life of the Duchess of Abercorn Alexandra Hamilton – known as Sacha – who died on December 9, 2018. Dear Friends of Sacha, We are not here today to bury our beloved. That happened, most appropriately,…

While numbers entering seminaries and religious life across Europe have been in decline over recent decades, there is a slow rise now with young people coming into religious life “more prepared, usually from a spiritual direction point of view”, according to the Director of Vocations Ireland. Returning from a meeting in Rome for people working…

Couples with no faith who want a church marriage are exploiting a sacred service, a Cork-based priest has said. Fr Tomás Walsh SMA of Gurranabraher said that couples who seek a Catholic wedding without having any faith themselves are taking advantage the religious ceremony. “I think that a lot of the church marriages that go…

Despite various reports last year that Dublin’s World Meeting of Families would cost up to €40 million, the festival’s Secretary General has confirmed that “it came in under budget”. Fr Timothy Bartlett told this newspaper that WMOF cost under its €20 million budget and that the final figures of the event will be available to…

Popular Passionist priest Fr Brian D’Arcy has been awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to community relations. “I’m amazed,” he told The Irish Catholic, “in many ways it gives you an opportunity to encourage community building and when you get that opportunity – take it in both hands.” Reaction to the…

Claims that Pope Francis has changed the Lord’s Prayer are overblown, a leading Irish ecumenist has said. “I think there’s an element of fake news surrounding the story of the Our Father in the Italian Missal,” Fr Martin Browne told The Irish Catholic. “You’d think from some of the headlines that Pope Francis had wielded…

The annual Clonard Novena which draws in thousands each year promises to remind us of that “we can all be saints” in our complex, modern lives. Each year, the Novena follows a carefully worked out theme which is explored through preaching and the specially commissioned booklet with additional reflections. This year, the theme of the…

Priests need to be “courageous” when celebrating Catholic funerals of gang members, even if it could bring them into “serious confrontation”. Following a statement from the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, decrying “show funerals” of criminals directly involved the “traffic of evil”, several diocesan priests said they understood the archbishop’s position and welcomed his leadership,…

This is an edited extract of Emma Tobin’s (22) speech at the Believers in the Digital World: Opportunities for Mission seminar. It’s a powerful thing, social media. I’ve tried to ignore it, tried to pretend it didn’t matter to me if people ‘liked’ what I said or not, but in reality, it does matter. It…