Almost three out of four Irish Catholics now believe it is time for the Church to mount a tactical retreat from education and divest many schools to the State, according to an online poll of readers of The Irish Catholic. The findings also reveal that people believe this will allow the Church to devote more…

With news that Ireland’s favourite funeral song is Andrea Bocelli’s classic hit ‘Time To Say Goodbye’, composers and musicians are insisting that liturgical music is still relevant today. In response to the research about the song, composer of Catholic liturgical music and a contemporary Christian songwriter Ian Callanan, said that he wasn’t surprised about the…

Lough
 Derg
 buses
 gearing
 up Bus Éireann this week launched its Lough Derg bus service for this year’s pilgrimage season. Operating for four days a week, the Route 486 service begins on June 1 and ends on August 13. Based on demand, the service will be available from Friday to Monday each week, including the upcoming June Bank Holiday,…

St Colman’s Society for Catholic Liturgy has announced that the Fota IX International Liturgy Conference will be held in Cork, from July 7-9 this year. The subject of the conference is on the divine office entitled ‘Psallite Sapienter: The Liturgy of the Hours’ and will be explored by a panel of experts drawn from the United…

Hundreds of people attended a candlelit vigil this week after the body of an 18-year-old, described as a “kind young man” by the parish priest, was found in a field in Louth. Fr Michael Murtagh, PP of Dunleer parish, said he saw Cameron almost every day, and that he was “a delightful kid to meet…

Catholics groups across Ireland have been invited to attend the annual Cork Eucharistic Procession this Sunday, in a celebration of witnessing to the Faith. The Procession, now in its 93rd year, commenced in 1926 when a group of businessmen in the city approached the then Bishop, Daniel Coholan, with a view to having a Eucharistic…

Pro-life campaigners have vowed to continue to speak up for the right to life of unborn children despite an overwhelming vote paving the way for abortion on demand up to 12 weeks. With final results from all 40 constituencies, citizens voted by 66/4% to 33.6% to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. John McGuirk…

Voters have opted to remove the constitutional right to life of the unborn from the Constitution, according to referendum exit polls. The vote will pave the way for legislation that will permit abortion on demand up to 12 weeks. The RTÉ poll suggests a large majority have voted to change the Constitution. It found that…

Pilgrims attending the World Meeting of Families in Dublin this August will receive a plenary indulgence, the Vatican has announced. The Apostolic Penitentiary today issued a decree saying that Pope Francis would grant a plenary indulgence to pilgrims, “on the usual conditions (sacramental Confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff),…