Category: Irish News

Social media used to kick-start Lent

Youth workers for the Dublin archdiocese took a novel approach to evangelisation kick-starting Lent this year. The diocese’s youth evangelisation team took to the streets outside the newly opened St Paul’s church on Arran Quay inviting people in to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday. The team promoted the event using the hashtag #AshtagWednesday on social…

Sisters deny lodging planning objection

The Mercy Sisters have rejected suggestions that they sought to block the provision of modular homes for homeless people. In The Irish Times in a February 15 article headed ‘Nuns lodge objection to modular housing’ it was reported that the Mercy Sisters were among those who had “lodged objections to the planned provision of 135…

Cardinal friend of Pope to address Cork parish

Staff reporter Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor is set to return to his Irish parents’ birth place to address parishioners on Pope Francis and the Year of Mercy. The Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster and former President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales will give a lecture in Christ the King Church, Turners Cross, Co. Cork…

Kairos make €90k ‘precautionary’ pay-out to revenue

Staff reporter The director of the company involved in the production of the daily ‘Angelus’ for RTÉ has said its settlement for more than €90,000 with the Revenue Commissioners was a “precautionary voluntary disclosure” to ensure it was tax compliant. Fr Finbarr Tracey of Kairos Communications Ltd told The Irish Catholic that the pay-out, amounting to…

Speed-dating inspired nuns to open vocations café

The phenomenon of speed-dating was the inspiration behind a new initiative aimed at attracting young women to consider a vocation to religious life. A pop up café, which is being backed by eight religious congregations in conjunction with Vocations Ireland, will open its doors next week to women aged between 20 and 35. ‘The Sisters’…

Radio Maria Ireland technician John Fitzgerald explains the controls of the new Catholic radio station to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin who blessed the new station at its launch. Radio Maria Ireland, which is the country’s only Catholic radio station, is an internet and digital audio broadcasting (DAB) station. Photo: John McElroy

Prioritise right to life, voters urged

Voters have been urged to prioritise the right to life of unborn children as they go the polls to elect a new Government next week. Bishop Kevin Doran told The Irish Catholic that the right to life was “the fundamental human right” and insisted the extent to which it is protected “is a measure of…

Parishioners praised for ‘incredible’ generosity

A member of the singing group The Priests, who features on this year’s Trócaire Lenten box, has praised the “incredible” generosity of Irish parishes in raising life-changing funds for the world’s most vulnerable. Fr Martin O’Hagan, Trócaire’s representative in the Diocese of Down and Connor, told The Irish Catholic that the “people of Ireland deserve…

Two parishes receive environmental award

Cabra West Parish in Dublin and Ballinaspeaig Parish in Cork have both received an award from Eco-Congregation Ireland (ECI) – a project of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting – for taking steps to ‘green’ their parishes in recent years. Ballinaspeaig was the first church in Ireland to become a Fairtrade parish. It has held a number…