Becoming a priest in Ireland today “can truly be described as an adventure”, according to the Bishop of Ferns. Speaking at the ordination of Fr Billy Caulfield in Horeswood Parish Church in Wexford on Sunday, Bishop Denis Brennan told the new priest a vocation was an adventure. He said at times “you will feel the appreciation people have for your…

Inside Christian communities finally liberated from ISIS With the ongoing retreat of so-called Islamic State in the face of an Iraqi army offensive, many Christians are speaking of the horror theyendured under the Islamist regime. This week, we report from northern Iraq which has been ravaged by violence and where Christians have been targeted for…

Bríd Smith is urged to visit Catholic charities Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has described as “unacceptable” a Dáil speech by People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith where she called for the Catholic Church to be put “in the dustbin where it belongs”. Ms Smith has also been urged by Church charity activists to come…

Pop sensation Justin Bieber wore his faith on his sleeve at the One Love Manchester benefit concert on Sunday, when he told the crowd to remember that God is good in the midst of the darkness and evil. Numerous musicians, including Ariana Grande, performed for free at the concert in Old Trafford, which raised funds…

A Rome-based moral theologian has said the Vatican has an obligation to block plans by the Sisters of Charity to facilitate the building of a new National Maternity Hospital where it is expected that abortions will take place. Fr Kevin O’Reilly OP, who lectures in Rome’s Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, better known as…

Record numbers of pilgrims visited St Patrick’s Purgatory in Lough Derg for the opening weekend of the island shrine’s 2017 Three-Day Pilgrimage season. With numbers up 10% on last year’s opening weekend, Fr Owen McEneaney, Prior of Lough Derg, told The Irish Catholic that it was even more heartening to compare today’s numbers – which…

The World Meeting of Families (WMOF) should leave behind a legacy of helping families caught in the “disgraceful” homeless crisis in Ireland, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said. Speaking at a conference on the WMOF, Dr Martin said there should not only be a spiritual legacy from the event, but also a focus on “what we…

The Bishop of Kerry has announced that from September, no funerals in the diocese will take place on a Sunday, for liturgical reasons and because of the reduction in priests. acknowleged that “many will have reservations about this decision” but said it had been taken “after extensive consultation with laity and clergy throughout the diocese”…

Meath composer writes hymn for papal visit A musician from the Diocese of Meath has been selected to write the lead hymn for the World Meeting of Families. Entitled ‘A Joy for all the World’, the hymn was composed by Ephrem Feeley, one of Ireland’s most established composers of liturgical music, with over 200 pieces…