Nicaraguan police detained Bishop Emeritus Abelardo Mata again on June 30, just one day after his initial detention and subsequent release on June 29. The 80-year-old prelate is reportedly now under house arrest. Mata, bishop emeritus of Estelí, was arrested at a clinic where he had gone for a checkup for his pacemaker. This occurred…
Second-generation Irish families are being prohibited from marrying in the historic Catholic Church in Birmingham as the parish struggles to raise funds for immediate repairs. Standing for over 175 years, St Joseph’s Church in Nechells has served Irish Catholics since they fled from the Famine almost two centuries ago. Today, £350,000 worth of damage to…
This year, Irish Carmelites are marking 80 years in Zimbabwe and have commemorated the milestone with a documentary titled, “Carmelite Friars In Zimbabwe”. The documentary provides insight to the remarkable history of the Order, its present, and future. First tracing the Carmelites mission of serving Eastern rural communities of Zimbabwe back to 1946. It then…
Speaking ahead of Belfast’s Rally for Life on July 4, Bishop Kevin Doran urged his audience to think of pregnancy as a gift and privilege rather than a burden, and called for communities to work together to support mothers. “We need to be promoting new ways of thinking and speaking about pregnancy, not as a…
Sunday, July 12 will mark the last Mass at St Augustine’s Church in Cork and the withdrawal of the Augustian Order from the city. The decision to withdraw comes as the order sees declining vocations, with a lack of ordinations to fill the ministry needs of the order amid the aging profile of the current…
Bishop Denis Nulty has said Catholic education remains “critical” and warned that schools which remain under Catholic patronage must be “unapologetically Catholic” at a time when divestment is under consideration. In a homily delivered at Loughcrew, Co. Meath, on Sunday, June 28, to mark the birth of St Oliver Plunkett, the Bishop of Kildare and…
150 teens and 100 volunteers from Ireland and beyond gathered for a week of catechesis and prayer at Clongowes Wood College SJ in Co. Kildare last week to take part in Camp Veritas, a Catholic summer camp experience founded by Ryan and Elizabeth Young. The American couple runs five summer camps each year, four in…
A day of celebration in Downpatrick turned to shock on Sunday, June 28, when a fire broke out at the former Convent of Mercy beside St Patrick’s Church just hours after Fr Thomas Hampton was ordained to the priesthood there. Fr Eugene O’Neill PP said Fr Thomas Hampton’s ordination on Sunday afternoon had been “a…
The Redemptoris Archdiocesan Mater Seminary in Dundalk, Co. Louth, had a new church and seminary extension inaugurated last Sunday, June 28. Presiding over the event, Archbishop Eamon Martin mentioned that this is Armagh’s missionary seminary, and said that “Ireland, which once sent thousands of missionaries around the world, is now in need of mission herself.”…
Financial statements for The Parish of Urney and Castlefin have revealed the east Donegal parish is in a €18,315 deficit. The parish has delivered a warning about the difficult financial challenges it expects to face. The accounts were prepared by Moore (NI) Accounting in Derry and submitted to the Derry Diocesan Trust for inclusion in…
Renata Steffens