Creating family-friendly church services will encourage new mothers to attend Mass, a Limerick-based priest has said. Fr Seamus Enright, Rector of the Redemptorist Fathers at Mount St Alphonsus Church, said that reassuring women that breastfeeding is acceptable at Mass will make mothers feel comfortable in going and bringing their children. “I suppose we’ve always operated…
Parishioners will be asked to dig deep next weekend to plug a shortfall in cash after August’s World Meeting of Families and the visit of Pope Francis. It will be the fifth time that a national collection has been taken up in parishes in a bid to cover costs associated with the event and visit…
The Irish Catholic readers have added their voice to a debate about whether the Angelus should stop being broadcast on Irish television. In an online poll, which racked up almost 1,500 votes, 94% of voters said the Angelus should continue to be broadcast on RTÉ, while only 6% said it should be stopped. The poll…
A new pastoral centre was opened on October 28 at the Church of the Guardian Angels in Newtownpark in Dublin by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin. The centre already has 150 volunteers who will help with the running of activities for everyone, ranging from toddlers to senior citizens. Alongside programmes like ballet lessons, parish priest Fr Dermot…
The diaconate in Ireland could help encourage vocations to the priesthood, a newly-ordained deacon has said. Prominent lawyer Brett Lockhart QC, who with eight other men was ordained a deacon earlier this month in Belfast’s St Peter’s Cathedral told The Irish Catholic that as the diaconate flourishes in Ireland, there will be a “better environment…
“Without the Christians, the Holy Land is no more than a museum”. This was the stark message from Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo to a group of participants in The Irish Catholic annual Christian Solidarity Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in Jerusalem last week. Bishop Marcuzzo – who is an anxiliary bishop to the Latin Patriarch of…
Government spokespeople have been unable to support a claim by Justice minister Charlie Flanagan that some countries at the United Nations “have quoted Ireland’s blasphemy laws in defence of their own repressive regimes”. Mr Flanagan made the claim on Twitter on Sunday, October 21, calling for people to vote this Friday to remove Ireland’s constitutional…
Bishop Donal McKeown has likened Brexit to radical nationalist movements in Germany, France and the US under Donald Trump’s administration, saying the Church’s message is more appealing to “many young people”. The Church’s message focuses “very strongly on the whole idea of reconciliation and healing, it certainly has a huge contribution to make,” he told…
Primate of All-Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin has expressed the hope that his counterpart in Dublin Diarmuid Martin could give input to a key Rome meeting on abuse next year. Speaking to Crux at the Synod of Bishops, Archbishop Eamon said that the Dublin archbishop “has a knowledge and understanding of this issue which I think…
Irish Cervical Cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan has been tapped to receive the Fitzgerald Bible Award for her role in the CervicalCheck scandal. Ms Phelan settled a High Court action against a US lab after her cancer was missed in a smear test. Chairman of the Fitzgerald Bible Bruff Award group Paul Dennehy said the award…
Colm Fitzpatrick
Chai Brady