Pilgrims from Rochfortbridge, Co. Westmeath, Breda and Adam Quinn, Annemarie and Amy Reilly and May Curran at the Holy Door for the Year of Mercy in St Mary’s Parish, Navan on St Brigid’s Day.
Marking St Brigid’s Day in Meath
Category: News
US Catholic charity backs poisoned community
A local Catholic agency intends to stand by the US city of Flint, Michigan during its public health crisis, the organisation’s president and CEO has said. Vicky Schultz, of the Flint-headquartered Catholic Charities of Shiawassee and Genesee Counties, says the city developed water problems when it stopped purchasing treated Lake Huron water, instead sourcing water…
Couples ‘postponing’ marriage due to spiralling wedding costs
Cathal Barry
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…
ISIS guilty of genocide, European assembly rules
Europe’s leading human rights body has called ISIS atrocities “genocide”. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has passed a resolution by 117 votes to 1, which included the statement “States should act on the presumption that Da’ish (ISIS) commits genocide”. The resolution “Foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq” condemned recent terrorist acts in…
Irish shrines hope for Pope Francis boost
Greg Daly
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…
Building a truly Eucharistic culture
We should be prepared to share the Eucharist with “surprising others”, Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle told participants at the 51st International Eucharistic Congress. “In the meal hosted by the Lord, persons recognise a close neighbour, a fellow sinner, a sister, a brother with a place at the table,” he said at the congress in…
Derry schools celebrate mercy and forgiveness
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
Vatican News
Francis answers questions from children around the world “What did God do before the world was made?” is one of 30 questions from children around the world the Pope tackles in a book to be published on March 1. Dear Pope Francis, published by Loyola Press, and illustrated with drawings by children aged 6-13, was first proposed to the Pontiff by Fr…
Parish patrols urged to tackle church carpark thieves
Mags Gargan
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…
Redemptorists bid a sad farewell to Rathgar
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…