Staff Reporter Ireland’s national shrine at Knock will make history at the weekend as the first transatlantic flight carrying pilgrims arrives for the annual novena. Led by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, the pilgrims’ first Mass at the shrine will be broadcast live by RTÉ. Fr Richard Gibbons, rector of Knock Shrine described the…

Fr Enda Murphy, a priest of the Diocese of Kilmore, has been appointed by the Vatican Secretariat of State to serve in the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments of the Roman Curia. Fr Murphy is a native of Derrylin, Co. Fermanagh. He studied at Queen's University, Belfast, the Gregorian University in Rome and,…

The Pope knows the family is made up of real people living in the real world, writes Carol Glatz

Funding for social housing has collapsed under the Fine Gael-Labour Government, according to data received by Fianna Fáil following a parliamentary question to Minister Alan Kelly. The data shows that there has been a 79% fall in funding for local authority housing, a 70% fall in funding for voluntary and housing co-operatives, and a 53%…

Two new chaplains have been appointed to University College Cork (UCC) as part of an agreement between the college and the Diocese of Cork and Ross. Nathan Williams and Brett Cavanaugh, both graduates of the University of Notre Dame in the US, will take up their positions at the beginning of the upcoming academic year,…

A postman delivers mail to the former Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary convent in the Los Feliz neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Los Angeles County Superior Court James Chalfant has ruled that the contested sale of the former convent to restaurateur and urban developer Dana Hollister is invalid. Pop singer Katy Perry had offered…

Bro. Denis Aherne, OFM (centre standing) pictured with members of the Burlington community following his first profession in a ceremony with the Provincial Minister of the Irish Franciscans, Friar Hugh McKenna OFM on Sunday. Bro. Denis is a member of the Irish Franciscan Province and having completed his postulancy in the Franciscan Friary, Killarney, Co.…

A man who pleaded guilty to knocking over an elderly nun in the centre of Limerick City and snatching her handbag, has been remanded in custody for sentencing. Joe Roche, 30, approached two elderly nuns, aged 75 and 78, as they walked along O’Connell Street on the morning of January 3. He snatched a handbag…

The Alliance party in the North has drawn sharp criticism over its policy that their candidates in next year’s Assembly elections will have to promise to vote in favour of same-sex marriage at Stormont. Evangelical Alliance spokesperson Peter Lynas told The Irish Catholic that the Alliance party “seem to be sending a strong message to…

Priests have described the theft of the Blessed Sacrament from a Co. Cavan church as deeply upsetting and proof that we are losing a sense of respect for the sacred in Irish society. It is believed that two young children managed to break into the sacristy of St Patrick’s Church in Kilnaleck, Co. Cavan last…