More variety in education should allow Ireland’s Church-owned schools to be truly Catholic, Killaloe’s Bishop Fintan Monahan has insisted. While demand for non-denominational schools is low outside Dublin, it is growing, Bishop Monahan said, explaining that “it is in everyone’s interest that this demand would be catered for with a greater number of non-denominational schools”.…

A well-known psychiatrist has opened up about how her Catholic faith has helped her in coming to terms with the tragic loss of her son from cancer. Prof. Patricia Casey’s son Gavin died in 2017 from spinal cancer when he was aged in his mid-20s. Speaking on RTÉ Radio at the weekend, she said she found…

Beloved Irish singer Dolores O’Riordan was planning on recording in Glenstal Abbey, Co. Limerick, and tested the acoustics there just months before she died. Bro. Anthony Keane OSB told The Irish Catholic that she sang the Panis Angelicus in their church, and that they will miss her at the monastery. “She sang beautifully in the…

Political efforts to make serious but non-fatal foetal conditions grounds for abortion need to be resisted, a spokesperson for Doctors for Life has said. Commenting against a background of claims that the board of Dublin’s Coombe Hospital refused a woman an abortion despite two consultants having certified that her child had a fatal foetal abnormality,…

Forgiveness is key to overcoming the violent legacy of Northern Ireland’s past, a well-known ecumenical priest has said. Speaking ahead of a Belfast-based festival aimed to create peace in the country, Fr Martin Magill of St John’s Parish on the Falls Road told The Irish Catholic that over the past few decades “so much hurt…

Catholic schools and parish communities play a vital role in welcoming and supporting families stuck in Direct Provision centres, a Cork-based priest has said. Commenting on the Millstreet centre, which campaigners believe has the largest number of children of all the Cork Direct Provision sites, Fr John Fitzgerald said that many asylum seekers are well-integrated…

The world’s largest social media platform has banned advertising of a pro-life movie as it has been dubbed a ‘political ad’. Facebook reportedly denied authorisation of ads promoting the US anti-abortion  Roe v. Wade film starring Jon Voight and Stacey Dash. The film aims to tell the story of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court…

The Church should prepare to sell large numbers of Catholic schools to the State and use the money to strengthen remaining Catholic schools, leading commentator Maria Steen has said. Mrs Steen – a columnist with The Irish Catholic – and spokesperson for The Iona Institute has warned that the continued situation where the State is…

Ireland’s reliance on Muslim doctors in hospitals around the country may derail Government plans to roll out a national abortion service, a leading obstetrician has said. Large numbers of non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) working in maternity units outside Dublin are Muslims from abroad, according to Dr Trevor Hayes of Kilkenny’s St Luke’s Hospital, who says…

Swathes of young people are at risk of gambling addiction across the country given the sheer lack of support mechanisms tackling the issue. According to Stephen Hughes, Senior Youth worker in Belfast’s St Peter’s Immaculata Youth Centre, gambling addiction among young people is at crisis point as there are currently no provisions for those aged…