A well-known lay organisation’s national congress will focus both on the challenging times the Church currently faces, and plans for the future. St Joseph’s Young Priests Society (SJYPS) will hold their congress in Dublin City University from August 24-25. The society decided on the theme ‘Be not afraid – the Lord is my shepherd’, saying…

EXCLUSIVE David Quinn & Colm Fitzpatrick A number of churches are leading by example on green energy and showing parishes all over the country how they can affordably move, with State support, from fossil fuel heating systems to renewable energy ones that will save them money over time. The Government recently announced a major plan…

The priest in charge of Croagh Patrick has appealed to Catholics to push for its preservation as a place of pilgrimage and contact Mayo County Council. After almost 9,000 pilgrims summited Croagh Patrick over the weekend, the mountain’s stakeholders are calling on all members of the public to make submissions to the council regarding plans…

Minister Josepha Madigan, who ran Fine Gael’s campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment last year and pave the way for abortion here, has said the first thing she did when given the role was to attend a Taizé prayer meeting at her local church. Ms Madigan, a family lawyer by profession, was asked by Leo…

After an anonymous donation Irish nuns were able to ship a large number of wheelchairs, standing frames, crutches and more that they had gathered to help children and adults with disabilities in Kenya. The Daughters of Charity (DC) Services in Ireland described the container load of equipment as “life changing” for people with a disability,…

Baroness Nuala O’Loan has said she believes the new UK PM Boris Johnson aims to renegotiate a time limit on the Brexit backstop in order to “buy time”. Currently he “is playing hard”, Baroness O’Loan told this paper. Without a time limit “the backstop doesn’t cease to operate until all the member states agree, and…

Elphin’s Bishop Kevin Doran has called on Sinn Féin to clarify its position on attempts in the British parliament to impose abortion law in the North, something the party has previously opposed as an exercise of British authority in the region. Bishop Doran’s comments came after senior figures in Sinn Féin welcomed the proposed liberalisation…

Fianna Fáil has said they are not opposed to referring the issue of assisted suicide to a Citizens’ Assembly for discussion, according to reports. A party spokesperson is quoted in the Medical Independent as saying they “would not oppose” this option. However, when contacted by this paper the party failed to answer a query relating…

Columbia’s first ever Tour de France winner wrapped up his historic victory on Sunday by making the sign of the cross with his younger brother and again with his mother. Egan Bernal, 22, the youngest cyclist to win the world’s most famous bicycle race in 110 years and the first Latin American to do so…

Bishop Brendan Kelly has dubbed the vandalism of a Galway mosque over the weekend as a “wilful and malicious assault”. The Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora said himself and many of the people of Galway are “dismayed and shocked” at the attack on the Maryam Mosque in Galway city. He said: “An attack on…