A priest based in Belfast’s Ardoyne has expressed disappointment at a missed opportunity to broker a deal between the Orange Order and Catholic residents which would have led to the dismantling of a neighbouring Loyalist protest camp. Former Methodist president Rev. Harold Good, who witnessed the decommissioning of IRA weapons in 2005 with Fr Alec…

Overcrowded prisons criticised The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice has welcomed the “considerable progress” shown in the Irish Prison Service annual report, which was launched this week, but said “chronic overcrowding” still needs to be addressed. Overcrowding continues in the Dóchas Centre, Cork prison and Limerick men and women’s prison, said Eoin Carroll, Advocacy Officer in the…

Education remains the key element in tackling Ireland’s binge drinking, a spokesman for the bishops’ body on alcohol awareness has said. Speaking to The Irish Catholic this week following the release of dramatic new figures for Irish people’s annual consumption of alcohol, Darren Butler, national co-ordinator of the Irish Bishops’ Drugs Initiative said that educating…

The Irish Church Music Association holds its 47th Summer School from Wednesday, July 6 to Saturday, July 9 in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Co. Kildare. The theme is ‘​God Full of Mercy’. ​This year’s programme includes a blend of contemporary and traditional choral pieces with emphasis on Psalms, sacraments, ritual and music for the liturgical…

The chaplain to the Irish community in Paris has heaped praise on fans who travelled to France to support the boys in green at the Euros, saying they managed to “melt the hearts” of the French. Fr Dwayne Gavin told The Irish Catholic that the atmosphere in Paris was “electric” ahead of Ireland’s recent clash…

The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church has commenced in Crete amid division and last-minute absences.  The historic synod, intended to be the first full gathering of all Orthodox leaders since 787, had hoped to keep its divisions purely a matter of internal discussion but an 11th-hour announcement by the Churches of Russia,…

Staff reporter Keith Duffy assured his mother that he would hand deliver her petitions to the grotto at Lourdes before embarking on a mammoth 550km cycle to the Marian shrine in the south of France. The former Boyzone singer joined a group cycling from Limerick to Lourdes in Nantes to raise money for Cliona’s Foundation, a…

Spanish Cardinal faces investigation after marriage sermon Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera of Valencia, Spain, has been placed under investigation by regional authorities following a raft of complaints from gay rights activists and socialist groups against a sermon he gave in defence of traditional marriage.  The cardinal, in the course of his sermon, said: “We have legislation contrary to the family, the…