Actress Viola Davis shared the secret of her Oscar-winning success during her Academy Award acceptance speech this week: God. Lauded for her Best Supporting Actress role in Fences, Davis sought to share her moment of glory with fellow Christian Denzel Washington, her co-star and Fences director, thanking him for  “putting two entities in the driving…

Brexit must not affect freedom of movement on the island of Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin has said. The Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All-Ireland expressed concerns about the threat Britain’s vote to leave the European Union would pose to cross-border movement in Ireland, and said the country’s bishops want guarantees that Brexit will not…

“I’m giving up meat, cheese, eggs and butter for Lent. I really wanted to challenge myself this year and it is basically the historical way that people used to do it.” – Eddie (42) *** “I don’t give up anything for Lent. Life is tough enough and I would end up not sticking to it…

The Bishop of Meath has signed a decree to establish what is believed to be the first new monastery in the diocese since the suppression of the monasteries by Henry VIII. Bishop Michael Smith presided at the canonical establishment of the monastery at Silverstream Priory on Saturday, “erecting the Benedictine Monks of Perpetual Adoration of…

Pressure is mounting on RTÉ this week after it was revealed that over 2,000 complaint letters have been sent in response to the ‘haunted bread’ incident on The Late Late Show. Fr Gerard Ahern of Abbeyleix, who has led the growing letter campaign to RTÉ since a guest on the flagship programme went unchallenged when…

The closure of Cistercian College Roscrea has been stalled as a result of a passionate campaign by parents and past pupils. Following the revelation that the Cistercian order was to close the boarding school due to financial pressures, a ‘Save CCR’ group has formed with the intention of sourcing funding for the school’s future. Speaking…

The current scale of humanitarian need is “unprecedented” warned Trócaire, as it launched Ireland’s largest annual fundraising campaign this week. The bishops’ overseas aid agency is targeting humanitarian relief for up to one million people with its Lenten campaign, which will see schools, communities and parishes coming together over the next six weeks to pledge…

Our Lady of Fatima statue tours Ireland A centennial pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima is making a tour of Ireland during the month of March. The statue of one of six commissioned by the Alliance of the Holy Family Int’l (AHFI) and the Human Life International – Austria, and blessed by Pope Francis…

School chaplaincy and pastoral support teams have a key role to play in protecting Irish adolescents’ mental health, it has been claimed. Speaking to The Irish Catholic ahead of the 2017 Self-Harm Awareness Conference, held in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium yesterday (March 1) Capuchin Bro. Martin Bennett said the conference’s focus was on adolescents. “Mental health…

The North’s Catholic Principals’ Association (CPA) has called for “clarity” from bishops on the issue of academic selection for grammar schools, after the announcement of a drive to formulate a single entrance exam to serve all schools by 2019. The announcement by the Post-Primary Transfer Consortium (PPTC) of a link-up with the Association of Quality…