News In Brief The North’s pro-life laws should be supported, a leading member of the SDLP has said. Noting how almost nine million children have been aborted in Britain since the passage of the 1967 Abortion Act, Alban Maginness, Belfast North MLA from 1998 to 2016, wrote in The Belfast Telegraph that over 100,000 babies…

Franciscan
 fraternity 
launch 
prayer
 campaign
 for
 unborn The Seven Joys of Our Lady Secular Franciscan Fraternity (Clonoe/Coalisland) have organised a prayer campaign up to Christmas at least, in view of an expected abortion referendum in the Republic of Ireland. Each member of the fraternity has undertaken to recite a daily Rosary for life and is inviting as many people as possible…

Mission has come ‘full circle’   An influx of new religious communities has been hailed as offering new life to the Irish Church, and bringing Ireland’s missionary heritage back home. Over the past year at least four groups of religious women have set up in Ireland from abroad, the most recent being a community of…

‘Intentional’ Catholic education is the 
future for Faith 
schools in Ireland, 
Greg Daly writes   “Religion,” Armagh’s Archbishop Eamon Martin said at last week’s The Irish Catholic Education Conference, is “not an added extra to be fitted in during break time or twilight hours or during registration”. Far from being something extra bolted on to…

Two young buskers from Blessington in Wicklow are the “talk of the town” after getting through to this week’s X-Factor audition. The talented musicians, Sean (17) and Conor (15) Price, impressed judges with their version of ‘All Along the Watchtower’ by Bob Dylan, which was a fusion of the rock classic and modern pop-rap. Their…

Highlighting the importance of freedom of speech and democracy the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore said Katie Ascough, who was impeached as SU President of UCD, was given a “hard time”. At a conference in Waterford this week Bishop Phonsie Cullinan said: “So if you are pro-life and a SU president you will have a…

Religious instruction in Church-owned schools remains the business of school patrons, the Minister for Education has clarified. Responding to a written request from Ruth Coppinger TD, Richard Bruton reiterated that denominational schools are currently required to allocate 30 minutes per day for religious instruction, but said that unlike other subject areas, the content of schools’…

The Vice-President of the European Parliament discussed the future of Europe and her responsibility for dialogue with religions with Pope Francis last weekend in the Vatican. Mairead McGuinness MEP was in Rome for a conference entitled ‘(Re)Thinking Europe – A Christian Contribution to the Future of the European Project’, organised by the Commission of the…

An initiative to offer people an alternative to the hype of the so-called ‘Black Friday’ shopping frenzy is gaining momentum with well-known priest Fr Brian D’Arcy throwing his weight behind it and a Cork parish adjacent to a shopping centre coming on board. The brainchild of spirituality publisher Columba Press, Bright Friday will see musicians,…

Merchants Quay Ireland’s mental health team surpassed the total number of clients they worked with in 2016 by September, as the most hectic time for homeless charities approaches. As their client base grows, the head of MQI’s mental health group, Derek Parker, said that Christmas is one of their busiest times, where many homeless people…