Bishop questions whether move is part of ‘wider agenda’

In the remote village of N’Korobougou, in the western region of Koulikoro, 68-year-old Kany Doumbia was diagnosed with trichiasis, the advanced stage of trachoma, where the infection has become so bad that the eyelashes have turned inwards, painfully scratching the eyeball with every blink. After 20 years of pain, surgery has returned her sight. Every…

“I don’t think it makes sense to say children should not be part of a debate about marriage and the family”

A Belfast parish priest has welcomed the decision to develop the site of a former Catholic secondary school for the use of the two local parish communities as a “real win-win for all concerned”. The Diocese of Down and Connor has announced that the Flax Trust, which focuses on reconciliation through economic development, will take…

The Pro Life Campaign (PLC) has urged doctors to be more “sensitive” when speaking publically about women whose children are diagnosed with a life-limiting disorder in the womb. “It is important that they are aware of language they use isn’t offensive or hurtful to families who have been through or find themselves in those situations,”…

Christians should not shy from speaking out and acting in response to the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, according to Tuam’s Archbishop Michael Neary. Speaking at a Mass in Knock for those who have died through religious persecution, Dr Neary lamented the destruction and exodus of millennia-old Christian communities from the Middle East,…

A garden of remembrance was officially opened in Belfast following the celebration of Mass for two Mercy Sisters who were killed in a car crash last year. Sr Frances Forde, former principal of Mercy PS and Sr Marie Duddy, who taught in Our Lady of Mercy College in Ballysillian, were remembered in a service at…

The Bishop of Cork & Ross has said canonical proceedings will now begin against a priest of the diocese sentenced to four years imprisonment for paying members of the Continuity IRA to threaten his nephew. Former hospital chaplain, Fr Francis Kelleher pleaded guilty to four counts of coercion at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on Friday,…

The Knights of St Columbanus in Downpatrick, Co. Down held a ‘Look at Life’ morning seminar for a group of students in St Marys High School, Downpatrick. Fr Martin Graham, a native of Downpatrick, opened the first session speaking on the ‘Roll of the youth in the Church today’. He talked about the importance of youth…

Over 600 religious, clergy and lay people gathered in the Diocese of Cork and Ross to celebrate and pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.  The celebration in word, song and silence began with the story of the life of faith beginning with St Finbarr and St Fachtna, the two diocesan patrons, through…