Young couples are “postponing” getting married due to the spiralling cost of weddings, it has been claimed. Fr Gerry O’Connor of Cherry Orchard Parish in Dublin warned that there are “huge expectations” for couples to have extravagant weddings which is forcing them to delay tying the knot. “There are huge expectations on couples to be…

Some of Ireland’s most-prominent religious sites are hoping for a ‘Pope Francis effect’ boost during the Jubilee of Mercy which the Pontiff has proclaimed this year. Representatives were amongst a delegation of pilgrimage leaders from around the world who were in Rome to hear Pope Francis outline his view that pilgrimage is key to the…

Bishop Donal McKeown accepts a ‘Book of Forgiveness’ prepared for the Year of Mercy from students in St Columba’s Primary School, who were among 142 schools to attend a diocesan celebration for Catholic Schools Week in St Eugene’s Cathedral in Derry last week. Photo: Stephen Latimer

Parishioners have been urged to be pro-active in tackling thefts during Mass, by setting up parish patrols in church carparks. There has been a spate of robberies in Co. Tyrone churches with cars being broken into during Mass in Strathroy, Carrickmore, Aughnacloy and Dromore in the last week and a similar attack in the carpark…

A large crowd packed Dublin’s Marianella centre for the final Mass of Rathgar’s Redemptorist community. “For 42 years we Redemptorists have ministered to people in the Rathgar-Terenure-Churchtown area,” Fr Ciarán O’Callaghan, rector of the centre, told The Irish Catholic.  Describing their ministry as “genuinely joyful”, Fr O’Callaghan said: “Our decision to close Marianella and its…

Sir Terry Wogan spent his final hours surrounded by his family who held prayers before his death, it has been reported. Paying tribute to the broadcasting legend, Fr Brian D’Arcy told The Irish Catholic that Terry was a “wonderful” man. Acknowledging that the broadcaster was a self-described atheist, Fr D’Arcy insisted that “God knew him…

Staff reporter The Bishops’ Council for Education has insisted that the ethos of Catholic schools will not be altered despite the Government rescinding Rule 68. Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan last week announced changes to the Rules for National Schools, specifically the rescinding of rule 68, which stated that “a religious spirit should inform and vivify the…

Rolling out the proposed new curriculum on religion and beliefs in faith schools would be a “gross contradiction”, a leading educationalist has warned. Prof. Eamonn Conway of Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, told The Irish Catholic that the proposed curriculum would amount to “schooling pupils, at best, in an agnostic understanding of their own religion”. “To…

An innovative Lenten project in the Derry diocese has received huge interest with thousands of orders coming from Irish dioceses and abroad. The Lenten scratch cards, or calendars, are produced by Thornhill Ministries as a catechetical tool and a novel way of helping people to engage with the Lenten journey. This is the third year of…

Archbishop Eamon Martin has urged the Government to “go out of its way” to support the family, especially the “uniqueness of the faithful and exclusive union between a married man and a woman and their children”. “In doing so, the State is not only caring for its citizens, but it is also strengthening and nurturing…