Some of organisers of the annual garden party for the Community of Sant'Egidio held at the Pontifical Irish College, Rome which was attended by about 550 people. One of the pastoral placements for seminarians of the college involves joining members of the community on the streets of Rome serving the poor once a week.

The Government’s determination to mislead the public is becoming a key issue in the marriage referendum campaign, according to a leading ‘no’ campaigner. Dr Thomas Finegan, legal advisor to Mothers and Fathers Matter, has rejected claims by former Justice Minister Alan Shatter that surrogacy is an irrelevant distraction in the marriage debate and is being…

The head of the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association (CPSMA) has welcomed a move by the State Claims Agency to provide insurance for schools used as polling stations. Fr Tom Deenihan told The Irish Catholic that Catholic schools “have always been happy to offer their schools, which are mostly built on private property, for this…

The systematic reduction in the funding for Essential Needs Payments (ENPs) is placing severe pressure on struggling families throughout the country, according to the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) The ENP budget this year (2015) is €27.9m, a cut of 55% since 2011. John-Mark McCafferty, SVP Head of Social Justice & Policy said…

An Argentinean bishop is leading the call for the beatification of a Co. Limerick missionary who died in December. Fr Liam Hayes, a Divine Word Missionary from Cappamore, had devoted his life to helping the poorest and most vulnerable in Oberá, Argentina. He founded several homes for children and adults with severe physical and intellectual…

The Irish Bishops’ Conference has launched a new website which outlines the Church’s teaching on marriage. The website www.meaningofmarriage.ie will host relevant material which has been published by the Irish Bishops’ Conference, its councils, and by individual bishops, including the pastoral statement The Meaning of Marriage, as well as comments from Pope Francis on the theme…

Italian Manuela Bertonicini, from Corpo Italiano Di Soccorso Ordine Di Malta, presents a bell to Carl McClean, deputy mayor of Bangor, Co. Down to mark the 1,400th anniversary of the death of St Columbanus, who travelled from Bangor to Italy spreading Christianity through much of Europe. The bell, for the parishes of Bangor, will be…

A photographic exhibition highlighting the work of the Irish Potato Coalition set up by Vita, the Irish NGO fighting against hunger and climate change in Africa, was opened on The Mezzanine, Terminal 1 in Dublin Airport by President Michael D. Higgins. Supported by Irish Aid, the Irish Potato Coalition is a research-led programme that works…

Campaigners for the ‘no’ side have called for action from the Government and ‘yes’ advocates, against an unlawful nationwide campaign of destruction of their marriage referendum posters. ‘Yes’ activists have posted videos and photographs from across the country of ‘no’ posters being defaced, torn down and destroyed, and a Dublin hotel has offered a 50%…

Garda involvement in the same-sex marriage campaign raises unsettling questions