Calls have been made for religious buildings across Ireland to be fire-proofed, amid fears that dilapidated churches could be easily prone to disaster. Speaking in the aftermath of the huge fire which ravaged Notre-Dame’s Cathedral earlier this month, Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said that he “worries” that churches in Ireland may meet a similar fate.…

A €3 million development at an 800-year-old abbey in Co. Mayo will serve as a hub for exploring the role of pilgrimages in Ireland and Europe’s Christian identity, according to the local parish priest. Fr Frank Fahey told The Irish Catholic that Mayo County Council’s support for building an interpretative centre at Ballintubber Abbey will…

While the Passion narrative was recorded over 2,000 years ago in the Middle East, a group of Derry-based schools decided this month to offer their own interpretation of those few fateful days. Students of St Joseph’s Boys’ Secondary School, St Columb’s College and St Mary’s College gathered in St Eugene’s Cathedral to visually retell the…

Amidst the devastation of the fire, what was most noticeable from social media was the outpouring of faith and emotion that the blaze caused. People stopped in their tracks at impromptu vigils and sang Marian hymns and prayed rosaries. Many people were weeping, and there was obvious relief when it emerged that the façade of…

A Belfast-based priest has urged politicians in the North to use the murder of a 29-year-old journalist as the inspiration to restart talks on a cross-community power-sharing government. Lyra McKee (29) was killed April 18 after a gunman from a dissident paramilitary faction opened fire on the police. She had been covering political unrest in…

BREAKING Easter brought no respite from attacks on Christians as up to 156 people were reported killed in a series of attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka. Hundreds more were injured according to police and hospital sources. At least six explosions have been reported. Three churches in Kochchikade, Negombo and Batticaloa were targeted…

A priest who ministered to a journalist murdered by paramilitaries as she lay dying has described her killers as “anti-Christ”. Lyra McKee was shot on Holy Thursday evening while she covered a riot in the Creggan area of Derry City. Ms McKee (29) was murdered by a gunman who was shooting at the police. The…

Bishops across Ireland have urged parishioners and clergy to draw young people to religious life in a hope of curbing ongoing priestly decline. In a series of homilies for the annual Chrism Mass, prelates warned that the shortage of priests in the country will soon lead to “significant change” in dioceses and called for a…

A prominent pro-life group has welcomed the Taoiseach’s admission that introducing exclusion zone legislation would restrict free speech. Responding to Sinn Féin TD Louise O’Reilly in the Dáil earlier this week on the issue of exclusion zones outside abortion facilities, the Taoiseach confirmed that the proposed new law was running into difficulties around issues to…