Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said that one of his proudest achievements in leading the Church in Dublin is the launch of a new centre aimed at creating space for dialogue between faith and reason. The Notre Dame Newman Centre for Faith and Reason has marked an important milestone in Dublin with the celebration of the…
Category: Irish News
Arming rural Ireland would be sign we’ve ‘lost our soul’
Tackling rural isolation seen as key challenge A proposal that would see people allowed to arm themselves for protection from intruders would be a sign that the country has “lost its soul”, a leading priest-campaigner for rural Ireland has warned. Fr Harry Bohan has also appealed to parishioners to work to tackle the scourge…
Ask Pope to visit Matt Talbot, Archbishop Martin says
People should write to Pope Francis to encourage him to visit the tomb of Matt Talbot when he comes to Dublin next year, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said. Speaking in Maynooth at a conference on priestly formation, Archbishop Martin spoke of how priests come from the “holy people of God”, a term the Pope regularly…
Irish-American takes next step towards Sainthood
Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, concelebrates the beatification Mass of Irish-American friar Blessed Solanus Casey on Saturday at Ford Field in Detroit. At least 60,000 attended the beatification of the Capuchin Franciscan priest. Photo: CNS/Jeff Kowalsky.
Halt paramilitary violence, Church leaders urge
Church leaders have called on paramilitaries in the North to stop their violence for the sake of young people in the region. In a statement to coincide with the United Nations’ Universal Children’s Day, the clergy warned that the vision of the Peace Process was being lost in the face of continued violence and intimidation.…
Sinn Féin out of step with ordinary people on abortion – MP
Sinn Féin’s new party line on abortion does not reflect the views of ordinary voters, the Sinn Féin MP for Mid-Ulster has said. Francie Molloy, who succeeded Martin McGuinness as MP for the area in 2013, said the policy adopted at the party’s Ard Fheis was both “progressive and hysterical”, and cautioned against the triumphalism…
Irish missionaries in Zimbabwe watch political developments ‘with hope’
An Irish Franciscan priest who has been living in Zimbabwe for 50 years says he is hopeful for the future of the country. Fr Walter Gallahue, a parish priest in Harare, told The Irish Catholic that everything was “very peaceful” in the capital. “There is no sense of panic, we are waiting to see what will happen,” he…
Catholics do not understand Pope – Archbishop
Pope Francis is misunderstood by people both within the Church as well as by some outside it, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said. Speaking in St Mary’s Church on Dublin’s Haddington Road as part of the Patrick Finn lecture series, Archbishop Martin said the Pope’s example “inspires some and…upsets others and leaves them insecure”. “Curiously, the…
Vestment design competition opens for World Meeting
The WMOF18 is calling on artists and designers to put on their creative thinking caps to come up with a “unique and inspirational” design for the vestments to be worn by priests, bishops and the Pope himself at the masses of the World Meeting of Families in August 2018. The design “should lend itself to…
A priest with an innate sympathy for the underdog
A great crafter of the spoken and written word has gone to God, writes Fr Michael Mullaney Ronan Drury came to Maynooth as a young man in 1942 to prepare for the priesthood and, apart from three years, he lived his priesthood in this college. He had a great devotion to this place and…


Susan Gately
Greg Daly






