Most demand for the divestment of Catholic primary schools to other patron bodies is in middle-class urban areas, with much less demand for divestment in rural and working-class areas, according to new analysis of an extensive Department of Education survey of parents around the country. More details of that survey have now emerged, and Alan…

The Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary remembered the birthday of their founder Bishop Joseph Shanahan last weekend, gathering in Dublin and at his birthplace in Borrisoleigh, Co. Tipperary. Bishop Shanahan founded the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary in 1924, as Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Onitsha in southeast Nigeria, where he had been…

A planned new documentary aims to counter the widespread belief that the Bons Secours Sisters who ran the Tuam mother and baby home deliberately neglected, or even murdered, more than 800 babies over its 36-year history, and then ‘dumped’ the bodies in a septic tank. The documentary is being made by local historian, Eugene Jordan.…

A question in this year’s Leaving Cert has sparked controversy by using the words ‘pregnant person’ rather than ‘pregnant woman’. The question was in the Leaving Certificate’s Social Education exam. It illustrated a pregnant woman and asked, “Besides taking folic acid, describe two positive lifestyle changes a pregnant person should make to protect the unborn…

Housing is the “biggest obstacle” facing couples preparing for marriage in Ireland, Bishop Denis Nulty has said, as new figures from the CSO show the country’s marriage rate has fallen to its lowest recorded level outside the pandemic years. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Bishop Nulty, who is head of the Accord Catholic Marriage Care Service, said the…

An estimated 13,000 visitors travelled to Knock Shrine last Saturday for the 41st All-Ireland Rosary Rally. This made it the largest gathering of Catholics in Ireland since Pope Francis’ visit in 2018. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Cork secondary school teacher and MC for the event Christine O’Hara explained why the rally drew the interest…

More than 5,000 people across the Diocese of Cork and Ross participated in the Eucharistic Procession on Sunday, celebrating 100 years of the long-standing diocesan tradition. Speaking ahead of the celebration to PJ Coogan on Cork’s 96fm Opinion Line podcast, Bishop Fintan Gavin, youth ministry coordinator Sheila Kelleher, and Canadian student Sophie Pettapiece, who is…

“How can Ireland call itself a civilised society today?” Baroness Nuala O’Loan has asked, echoing the words of Pope Leo in his address to the Spanish Parliament this week. The Pope asked what future can our societies have if life ceases to be recognised as a fundamental value, and if a community leaves in the…

The Irish State needs to be “honest” and have “coherence” if it is to sustain a genuinely pluralist school system. It also needs to “stop narrowing rights while speaking the language of inclusion”, the Catholic Education Partnership (CEP) has told the United Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in a lengthy submission to its Universal Periodic Review…

Human dignity is “non-negotiable”, Bishop Niall Coll has said in response to the new papal encyclical on Artificial Intelligence. The document, titled Magnifica Humanitas, warns that technology must always be at the service of people, rather than the other way around. Writing for The Irish News on June 1, the Raphoe bishop suggested that the…