To mark the 10th birthday of An Tairseach, the Organic Farm and Ecology Centre on the grounds of the Dominican Convent in Wicklow, the Dominican Sisters, Cabra opened a rose garden dedicated to world peace. A large crowd of friends and well-wishers attended the celebration and heard stories of the early days when the sisters…

Experts in religious education have challenged claims that the quality of the subject in Irish schools needs closer scrutiny, pointing out that an article arguing this admits that there is a lack of serious research on the subject. ‘Religion, Education, and Religious Education in Irish Schools’, by UCC professors Áine Hyland and Brian Bocking, recognises…

Japanese bishops defend constitution Japan’s Bishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Niigata has urged his country to build peace through development rather than military deterrence. Writing ahead of the seventieth anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the bishop, who chairs Caritas Asia, criticised plans by Japan’s ruling Liberal Democrat Party to change national security…

Over 1,000 young Catholics are expected to descend on the Cistercian College in Co. Tipperary next week for the annual Youth 2000 Summer Festival. Youth 2000 is an international movement of young people called to spread the Good News and the cornerstones of its spirituality are the Eucharist and the rosary. The festival, which combines…

Democrats in the US Senate have blocked an attempt to withdraw taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, the leading providers of abortion in the US.  The Senate voted 53-46 in favour of the procedural bill, falling short of the 60 votes needed to stop a Democrat filibuster against the de-funding measure, thereby preventing a vote on…

A prominent Muslim cleric in Dublin has warned that the radicalisation of Muslim youth is becoming more prominent in Ireland. Shaykh Dr Muhammad Umar Al-Qadri has said that Islamic extremists are regularly congregating at two Irish mosques and in one mosque in particular the religious leaders never denounce atrocities carried out in the name of…

Without directly naming Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan has challenged the candidate’s anti-immigrant rhetoric in an op-ed piece in the New York Daily News.   Recalling how his students had disbelieved him when he had said that nativism – the policy of protecting the interests of native-born inhabitants against those…

A Dominican priest accused of preaching a “vitriolic” sermon against gay people has apologised for any “pain and upset” he may have caused. Fr Terence Crotty, OP of St Saviour’s Dominican Priory in Dublin admitted he “deeply regrets” that a homily in which he described gay people as “intrinsically disordered” had caused “pain and upset”.…

After almost six decades of Antarctic ministry, the Church has decided to withdraw from the world’s least populous continent. Since 1957, New Zealand’s Christchurch diocese has been sending five priests to Antarctica every summer, where they served at the Chapel of the Snows, the world’s southernmost church, and four smaller chapels. Numbers attending Mass at…

The annual pilgrimage to Máméan in the Maum Turk Mountains in Connemara was held on Sunday with Bishop Brendan Kelly of Achonry (centre) celebrating Mass. Fr Fintan Monahan celebrated Turas na Croise along with sean nós singer Máire Áine Uí Chadhain. Fr Michéal Mac Gréil read liosta na Mairbh. Fr Kieran Burke of Leenane sang…