Down and Connor priest Fr Tim Bartlett has told The Irish Catholic that he stands over remarks he made last week in a sermon about bias in the BBC and that he will send a dossier of complaints to the BBC and renewed his call for an independent review of BBC Northern Ireland for anti-catholic…
Category: News
‘Over and out’ for RTÉ’s Roger Childs
Commissioning Editor of RTÉ Religion & Society, Roger Childs’ is to step down from the post having agreed to a voluntary exit package as part of a restructuring programme inside RTÉ, The Irish Catholic has learned. John McMahon, a former Station Head of RTÉ 2FM and Executive Producer of The Late Late Show, has been…
Bishops and laity want to create new national church body
Long consultations and many discussions – also with Rome – lie behind those responsible. In Fulda, bishops and lay people now want to lay the foundation stone for a new church body at national level. The Catholic Church in Germany may soon have a new national body made up of bishops and laypeople. “We are…
‘Church is deeply committed to capital’s disadvantaged inner-city communities’- Archbishop Farrell
The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Dermot Farrell, has placed the Church’s mission to the disadvantaged inner-city communities of the capital at the heart of his reflection on Pope Leo XIV’s decision to designate St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral as the Cathedral Church of the Archdiocese of Dublin. In an article submitted to The Irish Catholic, Archbishop Farrell describes…
‘Death was never in God’s plan’ – Bishop Leahy
Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy, in a wide-ranging Pastoral Letter for the Jubilee Year, invited people to reflect on what the “Catholic faith says about dying, death, what happens after death and prayer for the dead.” Catholics do not believe death is the end, the bishop said. “We believe we have one earthly life. It…
Primary Schools Survey is secure says Department
Following concerns from some parents about the integrity of the Department of Education and Youth’s online Parental Survey and its potential abuse, the Dept has sent assurances to this paper that the survey is secure. According to a Department of Education and Youth spokesperson, “The department has robust and multi-layered arrangements in place to ensure…
Nunciature dismisses talk of clergy being sidelined in Bishop Coll move
The Apostolic Nunciature in Ireland has rejected suggestions that clergy were sidelined in the recent transfer of Bishop Niall Coll from Ossory to Raphoe, insisting that no complaints have been “heard” and that there is no “praxis” of consulting local priests ahead of a bishop’s transfer. In a statement issued in response to a query…
‘To tackle homelessness is not just for politicians’ – former President
Speaking to The Irish Catholic at the launch of the new Focus Ireland campaign, titled ‘No Child Without a Home’, which took place on November 12, former President Dr Mary McAleese said the fight against homelessness “is not just an issue for politicians. That is an issue for us all as a people.” When asked…
Dr Michael Shortall will be next President of Maynooth College
Dr Michael Shortall is to be confirmed publicly as the new President of St Patrick’s College Maynooth this paper has learned. Dr Shortall had been serving as interim president since last year when Prof. Michael Mullaney stepped down as President of St Patrick’s College Maynooth in a move that took friends and colleagues by surprise. …
The Irish Church can learn from its Celtic past
At the opening of recent John Main Seminar in Balally Parish, Bishop Donal Roche welcomed participants by reminding them that renewal in the Irish Church “will not come from programmes alone, but from recovering the spiritual roots that first brought the Gospel to this island.” He pointed to the early monks and communities who shaped…






Renata Steffens




