Taoiseach’s Enda Kenny’s St Patrick’s Day comments in the White House have been welcomed by chaplains to the Irish community in the US. Speaking alongside US President Donald Trump the day before St Patrick’s Day, Mr Kenny said of the saint: “He too of course was an immigrant. And though he is, of course, the…

Staff Reporter The Pope’s representative in Ireland has said that revelations about scandals in the Church should trigger a “deeper conversion” within Irish Catholicism. Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown said that “the life of the Church on this Earth is not the story of perfection, it is always a mixed story of triumph and failure;…

Bishop Brendan Leahy has paid tribute to Irish Coast Guard pilot Dara Fitzpatrick and members of the Defence Forces who “fearlessly” dedicate their lives to helping others. “Let’s be grateful for all those, like Dara, whose generous spirit reminds us of the measure of love: to love without measure,” the Bishop of Limerick said at…

A rescue package has saved Cistercian College Roscrea just one month after it was announced that it was to close due to a dramatic fall off in student numbers. Dure to intense fundraising undertaken by the CCR Action Group, formed by parents and past pupils, in excess of €1.5million has been raised to save the…

Ireland and the Holy See “have some different perspectives” but share a belief in working for a just world, said the Minister for Foreign Affairs as he officially reopened the Irish chancery to the Holy See. Following a meeting with Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Holy See Secretary for Relations with States in the Vatican, Charlie Flanagan…

The Church has given a qualified welcome to speculation that the Government is likely to push schools to prioritise locally-based children in their admissions. This proposal, which would bar Church-owned schools from favouring children of their own faith from outside school catchment areas ahead of non-religious or minority faith children who live nearby, has been…

The Pioneer Association has launched a fundraising appeal to raise €100,000 in advance of the withdrawal of the Irish Jesuits at the end of this year. The Pioneers Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart was founded in 1898 by a Dublin Jesuit, Fr James Cullen, to address the damage being caused by excess alcohol.…

Staff Reporter A ‘me first’ mentality lies at the range of social ills, including a reported rise in racist incidents, a leading priest-campaigner on immigration has said. Describing racism as an side-effect of an ‘every man for himself’ approach to society, Fr Alan Hilliard told The Irish Catholic, “Whether we like it or not, our…

The financial situation of Dublin’s Central Catholic Library has improved dramatically since library members voted against a plan to place the library in the care of Dublin City University. The rejection of the plan last September was followed by the resignation of a third of the library’s board, who said the library had unsustainable annual…