Medical professionals are concerned they may be compelled to perform or facilitate abortions despite believing them to be profoundly wrong, according to a speaker at a pro-life medical conference. Speaking to The Irish Catholic at the ‘Medical Care and the Eighth Amendment’ conference in Dublin, Dr Andrew O’Regan said doctors and other medical professionals are…
Catholic majority in NI predicted Catholics could outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland by 2021, a leading academic has suggested. The 2011 official census figures put the Protestant population at 48 per cent and Catholics at 45 per cent, while more recent figures from 2016 show 44 per cent of working age adults are Catholic and 40 per cent Protestant. Paul Nolan, an independent researcher, best known for…
Mothers and fathers who consider abortion in difficult circumstances should be treated with “tremendous sensitivity and support”, an Irish bishop has said. In an April 22 Pastoral Message, Fern’s bishop Dennis Brennan said that individuals can find themselves in difficulties during pregnancy, pointing out that mothers may be abandoned, afraid, isolated or facing financial and…
The Government has failed to focus on positive alternatives to abortion despite the fact that many of the electorate have “pleaded” with the Government to create a space for such debate, a leading pro-life group has said. Speaking at a press conference this afternoon in Dublin, spokesperson of Love Both Sinead Slattery said: “In the…
Pro-life campaigners have welcomed today’s Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll on abortion and says the findings are “a devastating blow to the Government’s referendum proposal”. In the poll, 47% of respondents say they intend to vote Yes and 28% say they will vote No, while 20% of respondents say they are undecided as to how…
The man hailed as the ‘King’ of country and Irish music was “gifted by God” to entertain people the funeral Mass of ‘Big Tom’ McBride has heard. Fr Leo Creelman told the thousands of mourners that the legendary singer was above all “a loving father, grandfather, uncle, brother, neighbour and friend”. He said that the…
The referendum on the Eighth Amendment is proposing “a wide-ranging right to abortion”, a group of 100 lawyers have said. The Constitution as it stands respects the right to life of mothers, and “protects the right to life of the unborn only to the extent that such protection is consistent with the right to…
A leading cardinal has said the Church in Ireland must be prepared to consider closing hundreds of churches to concentrate resources on building strong faith communities. Speaking in Dungarvan on Monday, April 16, on ‘What the Irish Church could learn from the recent history of the Church in Holland’, Utrecht’s Cardinal Willem Eijk said that…
The Referendum Commission has refused to answer queries about a senior member of a company assisting with their referendum information campaign, who tweeted that bishops were “hypocritical old eunuchs”. Dylan Cotter, the Executive Creative Director of BBDO Dublin, linked an article about a pastoral message Bishop Kevin Doran had sent to parishioners, which stated that if abortion was…
Dubbed Ireland’s king of country music Big Tom was also described as a man who was “very committed to his locality and parish” after his death this week. Tributes have streamed in for the music legend, who died aged 81 on Tuesday. Thomas McBride [his real name] dominated the showband scene in the 1960s and…
Greg Daly
Colm Fitzpatrick
Chai Brady