Two priests were held at gunpoint during a robbery at St Joseph’s Church, Drumragh in Co. Tyrone on Saturday. Msgr Joseph Donnelly and Fr Piotr Zimnoch were held by assailants in parochial houses in Omagh when two men entered the properties, one carrying a suspected firearm, looking for money. A police spokesperson said both men…

Staff reporter Young Fine Gael may be poised to return to the party’s roots in the Christian democratic tradition if a motion due to be debated at a summer school at the weekend is anything to go by. Members of the youth wing of Fine Gael will debate a motion calling on RTÉ to extend…

The local parish is rallying in support of grieving families in Co. Laois devastated by a car crash that saw the loss of three young lives. Martin Brophy, Orla Curry and Angela Kelly died in the early hours of Sunday morning when the car they were travelling in crashed at Middlemount on the Rathdowney to…

Parishioners in Belfast’s Ardoyne have expressed relief that for the third consecutive year there has been no violent confrontation between the Nationalist and Loyalist communities during the Twelfth celebrations. While Monday’s morning parade had been peaceful, Loyalist rioting broke out with police when the return parade was prevented from marching past the Ardoyne shop fronts…

Claims that human right treaties allow a right to abortion are completely without foundation the Pro-Life Campaign (PLC) has told the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Speaking in Geneva on Tuesday at a discussion about the right to life section of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Cora Sherlock of the PLC pointed…

De La Salle Brothers from different parts of Ireland came together in Castletown, Portlaoise recently, after a six day retreat given by Fr Charles Cross, CP. They were, in effect, saying goodbye to their Irish Province, which was established in 1947, and joining with brothers from Great Britain and Malta in a new combined ministry…

The new St Aloysius Summer Faith Camp, for boys and girls (5-12 years), was an action packed week for the 30 children and 22 leaders and junior leaders from Mallow Parish Youth Ministry-CDYS, Jesus Youth Movement and Pope John Paul II Award participants. Each day the young people started off with Morning Prayer followed by drama, sports,…

Pastoral work by the Catholic Church in Greece is being severely hampered by the country’s economic crisis, according the Catholic Archbishop of Athens. Archbishop Sevastianos Rossolatos said the Church was increasingly unable to maintain its buildings or provide services for migrants and refugees, more of whom have arrived in the beleaguered country this year than…

A leading evangelical Anglican says that Pope Francis’ 2014 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium is central his current thinking, and that if every English Christian put the document into practice both Church and nation would be transformed. Rev. Nicky Gumbel, vicar at Holy Trinity Brompton and developer of the globally influential Alpha Course, told a gathering…

Friars ready for ‘Battle of Waterloo’ stance