Firebrand left-wing TD Paul Murphy has contrasted the time Irish schools spend on religious and physical education, suggesting that a burgeoning obesity crisis among Irish children could be staved off by increasing time for physical exercise in the school curriculum. “If the Government is serious about an approach in terms of a healthy lifestyle then…

The archbishop of Dublin intervened to avoid a general election during the political row which led to the resignation of Tánaiste, Frances Fitzgerald. Pointing out the time and polarisation an election would involve, he told RTE news on Sunday last that “people will suffer”. Earlier at the reopening of Huntstown Church, damaged by a fire…

Government failures to settle refugees are not surprising, but a new scheme gives the Church the opportunity to step up and help, a leading priest has said. “It’s not surprising the system they’ve had in place is failing because it lacked a vision underpinning it about what integration is,” Fr Alan Hilliard told The Irish…

Staff at the headquarters of the Church in Ireland are taking up the Pope’s challenge to go green looking about how they can practically take on board the Pope’s ecological letter Laudado Si’ on the care of creation. Around 20 members of the hierarchy’s secretariat attended a training day hosted by representatives from Trócaire and…

Voting to repeal Ireland’s constitutional protections for mothers and unborn children would be “a leap into the dark” like “signing a blank cheque”, solicitor Alan Daveron told delegates at the RENUA Ireland AGM. Speaking at the Tullamore Court Hotel, Mr Daveron asked whether voters could trust a government which had defied the popular will to…

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…

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…

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…

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.

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.…