Pope Francis on Sunday celebrated a Mass to wind up an unprecedented, and wildly tumultuous, series of two summits of Catholic bishops. They were convened to debate matters related to the family, including the front lines in today’s wars of culture, such as homosexuality, divorce, and the meaning of marriage. On Saturday, the Vatican released…

Time for action rather than ‘talking shops’

The Pope’s upcoming African trip will require distinct messages, writes Paul Keenan

“I get on my knees and pray right at the side of the bed, no matter where I am.”

A parish run initiative to get more men involved in the Church has been described as “wonderful” by the local parish priest, Fr John Sinnott. Seventy men met for a full Irish breakfast, cooked by male volunteers in Johnstown Parish Hall, in Johnstown, South Dublin. The outreach initiative took inspiration from Rebuilt, the book about…

Pope Francis arrives to lead an audience with Roma, Sinti and members of the Travelling community at the Vatican on Monday. The Pontiff appeared to reference the recent tragedy at a halting site in Dublin in which ten people lost their lives when he said: “we do not want to witness any more family tragedies…

Newry parish in Co. Down is to play host to a very new kind of parish faith mission in the run up to Christmas and to mark the new ‘Year of Mercy’. The mission will be given by some 20 international lay missionaries who are studying at the Emmanuel School of Mission in Rome. The…

Archbishop Michael Neary has dismissed as “simplistic” claims that Ireland is experiencing a crisis of priesthood. The Archbishop of Tuam insisted that the real issue facing the Church in Ireland was a “crisis of faith”. “Many people today speak of a crisis in the priesthood. This I consider to be a rather simplistic view of…

The life and legacy of Edward J. Flanagan, was the topic of a public lecture given at the Summerhill College in Sligo by Thomas Lynch, historian and director of community programmes at Boystown, Omaha, Nebraska, USA. Fr Flanagan was born in Leabeg, Ballymoe, Co. Roscommon in 1886 and was a student at the College of…

Hollywood legend Maureen O’Hara, who passed away at the weekend, once said her greatest fear would be “not getting into Heaven”. The flame-haired actress, who was born in Dublin in 1920, passed away in her sleep at her home in Boise, Idaho on Saturday at the age of 95.  When a journalist asked the film…