Christians must neither seek refuge in conservatism or fundamentalism as though everything was better in the past nor reject everything that seems old-fashioned thereby “relativising all the wisdom accumulated in our rich ecclesial heritage” according to Pope Francis. Speaking by video message to participants in Buenos Aires at the Second International Congress of Theology, on…

Representatives from Knock Shrine and the Eucharistic Congress have officially launched the programme for the National Eucharistic Congress (NEC) which takes place later this month. The congress is a major gathering of the Catholic Church in Ireland at the National Marian Shrine in Knock, Co. Mayo, over the weekend of September 26-27. Under the theme…

A multi-agency task force headed by the Taoiseach or Tánaiste is needed to tackle Ireland’s homelessness crisis, a leading charity has said.  “The Taoiseach says there needs to be more joined up thinking, but I think his comments were more to do with local authorities, homeless agencies, etc,” Francis Doherty, Communications and Advocacy Manager of…

Irish anti-euthanasia campaigners will be joining with disability rights organisations in a protest outside Britain’s Houses of Parliament to coincide with a parliamentary debate on assisted suicide.  Dr Kevin Fitzpatrick, director of Hope Ireland, told The Irish Catholic he would be joining ‘Not Dead Yet UK’, tomorrow [Friday] “together with many other organisations promoting the…

Francis wants to make Church teaching easier to live without changing it writes Michael Kelly

David Morgan with student helper James Kehoe from St Kilian’s School in Bray were part of the largest annual pilgrimage to leave Ireland, when 2,000 people from the Archdiocese of Dublin departed for Lourdes on Monday. The 66th Dublin Diocesan Pilgrimage saw seven specially chartered flights transport 175 sick pilgrims, 52 volunteer nurses, eight doctors…

Canon lawyers have welcomed sweeping changes to the process by which the Church grants marriage annulments, following Pope Francis’ issuing of reforms this week. The changes will streamline the process and mean that the need for all cases to be reviewed automatically has been scrapped, meaning judgments should take no longer than a year. Bishops…

The Pope is underlining the fact that Confession is a path of authentic conversion, writes Fr Michael Mullaney

The mother of two young boys killed by their older brother who then took his own life has spoken of how her faith has helped her cope with the tragic loss and led her to forgiveness. Jonathan O’Driscoll (21) killed his twin brothers, Thomas and Patrick (9), in their home in Charleville, Co. Cork last…

African prelates are holding the line against Western mores, writes Paul Keenan