11,000 families have been resettled and “several hundred churches reconstructed” in Iraq by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), according to ACN Ireland’s Director, Dr Michael Kinsella. He described the organisation as “emboldened” and “encouraged” by the Pope’s trip to Iraq last weekend, which saw the Pope visit many of the sites decimated by…
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney did not address the issue of Christian persecution during his meeting with Iran’s president despite serious concerns about religious freedom for the minority group in the country. Minister Coveney met with President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Tehran, Iran over the weekend. The Department of Foreign Affairs…
Catholic clergy in France perpetrated more than three times as many sexual abuse offenses than previously thought, said the head of a bishops’ commission whose report is due out in September. Jean-Marc Sauvé, 71, a lay Catholic and head of the French Institute of Administrative Sciences, presented new data from the Independent Commission of Sexual…
The Canadian bishops’ conference announced last Thursday that after a review of organisations that receive project funding from their international development agency, it will discontinue 24 partnerships over concerns about compatibility with Church teaching. The Canadian bishops and the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace – Caritas Canada reviewed the CCODP’s international partner organisations…
Homelessness charities and politicians have criticised the Government’s inaction over homeless deaths, saying the State has ‘failed people in homelessness’. Deaths of people in homelessness rose by 61% in Dublin last year according to the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive (DRHE), but no statistics are recorded for other localities around Ireland. Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has…
A Dublin hospital has decided to remove any reference to ‘Saint’ from the names of the wards on their IT systems. Beaumont Hospital confirmed to this paper that the ward names are not being altered and the existing signs will be the same but the names would be changed on their IT systems to avoid…
The Ignite student conference is set to hit the airwaves this year in partnership with Radio Maria, with a focus on the theme of evangelisation. Established at the end of 2019, Ignite is a Catholic conference aimed at college students and organised by young people themselves. Broadcasting on Saturday, March 20 from 11am-5pm on Radio…
Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop emeritus of Washington DC who stepped down in 2018 amid scandal, received over $2 million from the archdiocese last year for unspecified “ministry activities” an investigation has found. A March 3 examination of the archdiocese’s financial records by The Pillar found that Cardinal Wuerl was allocated $2,012,639 for “continuing ministry activities”…
Loreto College Crumlin are turning an acre of unused land into a “pocket forest” and biodiversity meadow with the help of staff, students and the local Loreto Sisters. The girl’s secondary school decided to start the biodiversity project last year to utilise a plot of unused land, deputy principal Matt Whelan told The Irish Catholic.…
Catholic bishops said the Covid-19 pandemic is exacerbating an already grave imbalance in living conditions and opportunities, alongside an “unbridled race to exploit hydrocarbons” in its parks and nature reserves. “We are concerned about a degradation of the political discourse that threatens a collapse in the national unity, reconciliation, justice and peace, which have been…
Chai Brady
Ruadhán Jones