As the illumination of Belfast City Hall in support of the ‘International Safe Abortion Day’, which was to take place last Monday, September 28, was put on hold, Precious Life held a march from Donegall Place to the City Hall carrying lights in a public procession for unborn children. While marching, the crowd were chanting “we…
Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin and other Church leaders are offering prayers to communities closely affected by the Lough Neagh pollution and ecological crisis, “including farming and fishing communities, local businesses and families.” In a statement published after the Church leaders’ visit to Cranfield, on the shore of Lough Neagh in Co. Down, the Church…
Archbishop Eamon Martin has issued a joint statement with Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh John McDowell on the situation in Drumcree, calling on Christians in Northern Ireland to think about how they can be good neighbours to each other. “We cannot think of any time in the last thirty years when this simple message…
Bishop of Down and Connor Alan McGuckian has appealed to Belfast City Hall to remain a civic space that should “unite rather than divide” in a letter to all 60 members of Belfast City Council. The letter, written personally by Bishop McGuckian, comes ahead of the decision by the City Council to illuminate City Hall…
Irish society is “living off the fumes of the past” and can no longer assume a Christian worldview, Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan has warned, saying this generation of Catholics must take responsibility for bringing the faith to their contemporaries. In his homily at the opening Mass for Ave Maria University’s new semester-abroad programme at Mount Melleray…
The beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen is a reminder that the Church must embrace modern media without allowing personality or popularity to eclipse the Gospel, Bishop Paul Dempsey has said. The celebrated Irish-American preacher and broadcaster was beatified today at a Mass in St Louis, Missouri, presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle on behalf…
“Family love cannot replace proper public support,” said Catherine Wiley, CEO of the Catholic Grandparents Association (CGA) to The Irish Catholic, responding to a recent survey published by ALONE on the impact of rising living costs on older people. “And public support cannot replace the love, the presence and the responsibility of the family,” Ms…
A Co. Louth priest, only two weeks into his new position as parish priest of Ardee, Collon and Ballapousta, died suddenly last week. Fr Mark O’Hagan’s death was announced on Friday, September 18, and was met with an outpouring of love and appreciation from those in current and past communities. The 55-year-old priest, from Coalisland,…
At a briefing from the Education Matters advocacy group in the AV Room of Leinster House last week, former mental health nurse and mother Sam Poynter maintained that the issue of gender identity policy in Irish schools must not “be brushed aside as a culture war when, in fact, it is a safeguarding issue.” Welcoming…
The Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) has been criticised for failing to consult its membership about the organisation’s support for ending the three-day waiting period for abortion. During the ICGP’s appearance before the Oireachtas Health Committee on September 16, the Aontú leader Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked ICGP witnesses what consultation had taken place with…