Nerves were frayed amongst the 80,000 crowd in Croke Park last Sunday as the All Ireland Hurling final between Cork and Clare resulted in a tense draw during injury time, and no more so than for Bishop Kieran O’Reilly, a Corkman based in Clare. “Coming from Cork and living in Clare I had a…
Category: News
Clergy changes should be ‘more democratic’
Bishops must take a more democratic approach to priestly appointments according to a leading expert who works with priests and religious who feel bullied in the Church. Spiritan Fr Tony Byrne said that bishops and religious superiors who do not listen to priests’ concerns about appointments store up problems for the future. However, he…
Dublin school to host Spiritan university
Education is now available at first, second and third levels on the campus of St Michael’s College in Dublin. Dublin has now joined Rome as only the second European country to host the overseas programme of Duquesne University, the United States only Spiritan university. With the arrival of 12 students this month, St…
Protest asks Irish Times to ‘tell the truth on abortion’
A protest outside The Irish Times offices in Dublin last Saturday heard women ask the paper to “tell the truth on abortion” and stop misleading the public. The protest took place as controversy continues over the clarification by The Irish Times that its report of the “first abortion carried out under new legislation” “did…
Police patrol threatened Catholic schools
Cathal Barry
Police patrolled outside three Catholic schools in north Belfast this week after an alleged loyalist threat of “military action” against pupils. It has been claimed the threat was issued by the Red Hand Defenders, a loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. The paramilitary group said parents, pupils and staff were “no longer…
Homelessness ‘out of control’ – charity
Homeless services are in a worse state now than ever before, according to the Peter McVerry Trust which launched its 2012 annual report this week. After 30 years of working to eliminate homelessness, the trust said the problem is now worse than ever, perhaps even out of control. According to its 2012 annual…
‘No evidence’ celibacy leads to abuse
Claims that priestly celibacy leads to sexual abuse have been rejected by a leading expert. US-based Prof. Philip Jenkins, who has spent decades researching the area told The Irish Catholic this week that there is “no evidence whatever that Catholic or other celibate clergy are any more or less likely to be involved in…
World Report: Case against Pope Benedict withdrawn
Paul Keenan
A case brought before a court in the US state of Milwaukee against Pope Benedict and the Holy See for alleged cover-ups of abuse there has been withdrawn. The case, which had garnered much publicity for the naming of the current Pontiff in relation to his duties at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the…
American monastic group moves to Ireland – Mags Gargan
Mags Gargan
An American community of men living according to the monastic Rule of Saint Benedict is moving to Ireland this month to ‘return the love’ given by the Irish priests and religious who served the Church in the United States. The Monastery of Our Lady of the Cenacle was established by Dom Mark Daniel Kirby…
Papal invitation drive by layman
A Catholic layman from Co. Kildare has taken it upon himself to create a Catholic drive towards inviting Pope Benedict to visit Ireland in time for the International Eucharistic Congress. Liam Prendergast has written to every parish in Ireland requesting that parish priests and other volunteers gather signatures of Catholics over the age of 16…