Fr Binoy Mathew SVD and a team of volunteers from Arklow parish in Co. Wicklow reached out to over 90 primary and secondary schools in the Wicklow deanery to promote the Creative Spirit initiative. The aim of the project was to get students engaged with the scriptures by running a series of competitions including art, bookmark,…

Cllr Denis Foley, Cathaoirleach of the Municipal District of Muinebheag officially unveiled the Carlow 2016 Memorial for the Municipal District of Muinebheag at Beachers Hill, Leighlinbridge Road, Bagenalstown.The memorial honours Fr Albert Bibby OFM Cap, Regent Street, Bagenalstown and Nurse Margaret Kehoe, Orchard, Leighlinbridge for their pastoral and medical care of those who fought in…

The next Government must urgently address the “glaring inequalities” that exist when it comes to the funding of faith schools, a senior education chief has warned. John Curtis, General Secretary of the Joint Managerial Body (JMB), which represents over 400 voluntary schools across the State, told The Irish Catholic that governments in the past had…

A group of  lay people, sent as delegates by parishes throughout the Diocese of Ardagh Clonmacnois, has been in formation and training during the past three months, as part of the development and expansion of the Diocesan Eucharistic Adoration Committee. This was organised and conducted by Brendan Cleary and John Howard of the national committee of…

The Northern bishops have said Christians are feeling a growing ‘chill factor’ in public policy and law in Northern Ireland. In a pastoral reflection on the forthcoming elections to the Northern Assembly, the bishops have listed a number of key issues for Catholic voters to consider, including the right to religious freedom. Funding The bishops…

Pope Francis just keeps on truckin’ as the most compelling moral point of reference in the world today, most recently capping a last-minute trip to the Greek island of Lesbos to make a statement on refugee rights by bringing 12 of those refugees back to Rome with him, thereby offering Europe a pointed lesson about…

The principal of the Kilkenny based Presentation secondary school whose choir wowed the judges on Britain’s Got Talent has described the “roller-coaster” experience as “amazing”. Shane Hallahan told The Irish Catholic that he was “delighted with the reception the choir received”. “I was over at the filming, along with the school’s deputy principal, Mary Ryan.…

Europe is ignoring Turkey’s appalling rights record, writes Paul Keenan

Staff reporter Pope Francis’ representative in Ireland has revealed he was the host of a rock ‘n’ roll radio show during his time in college. Speaking on RTÉ Lyric fm recently, Archbishop Charles Brown confessed he hosted a “very short lived and not very successful” rock ‘n’ roll show on WSND-FM at the University of Notre…

Happiness is not an ‘app’ that can be downloaded, while freedom and our true value can never be bought, Pope Francis has reminded thousands of teenagers. In a homily to a crowd of about 100,000 people gathered for a special Year of Mercy event for youths aged 13 to 16, the Pope urged the assembled…