Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol are challenging the Good Friday Agreement, prominent historian Dr Eamon Phoenix has said. This comes following Paul Givan’s resignation as Stormont First Minister as part of the DUP’s escalating protest strategy against Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Dr Phoenix said power sharing “is very prone…
The Minister for Health has confirmed that the wearing of masks in churches has never been a requirement under statutory instrument – it has been public health advice. Last week in the Dáil, Minister Stephen Donnelly, in response to a question from Mattie McGrath TD, said that while the majority of public health measures have…
A fourth Anglican bishop in a year has been received into the Catholic Church. It was confirmed by the Church Times – an independent newspaper covering the Church of England – that the former bishop of Chester, Peter Forster, became Catholic last year. The three other Church of England bishops to become Catholic last year…
Following calls from the Irish Redemptorists for the Vatican to reinstate a priest removed from ministry, a theologian has raised concerns that he is still “at loggerheads with several important Church teachings”. Fr Tony Flannery CSsR was suspended from public ministry by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2012, with that dicastery…
The president of the Argentine bishops’ conference expressed sorrow and called for action on addiction after the consumption of contaminated cocaine claimed at least 23 lives and hospitalised dozens more in the low-income suburbs of Buenos Aires. Bishop Óscar concaine of San Isidro, conference president, tweeted February 2, “I am deeply moved by the death…
Staff reporter The Police Ombudsman has found “collusive behaviour” by police in 11 loyalist murders in the North, including the 1992 attack at the Sean Graham betting shop. A report by Marie Anderson also identified “significant” investigative and intelligence failures. She said it was “totally unacceptable” that police used informants within the Ulster Defence Association (UDA)…
The president of the Lithuanian bishops’ conference warned that his country and its neighbours could be targeted if Russian President Vladimir Putin imposes his will on Ukraine. Archbishop Gintaras Grušas of Vilnius, who is also president of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, urged Western countries to maintain a “hard line of deterrence. “We’re in…
Catholic youth group Youth 2000 is “delighted and really excited” to be welcoming young Catholics back to their first major in-person event since March 2020, National Administrator for the group, Emma Maloney told this paper. Ms Maloney said the pandemic made it “very hard for single Catholics for the last two years to get out…
Staff reporter The Pope’s representative in Ireland has thrown his weight behind a new initiative for the renewal of faith through an all-island novena which follows in the steps of St Patrick. Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo visited St Patrick’s Church in Saul on the feast of Candlemas as part of a St Patrick’s novena. Archbishop…
US pastor resigns after discovering invalid baptisms Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix said baptisms performed by a priest during years of ministry in the diocese are invalid, leading to the resignation of the clergyman, February 1. In a January 14 letter to the diocese, Bishop Olmsted said diocesan officials learned from the Vatican Congregation for…
Chai Brady