Jason Osborne The national novena to Our Lady of Knock has become the latest high-profile casualty of a wave of events called off due to concerns about coronavirus. The event is postponed until perhaps later this year, Fr Richard Gibbons, PP Rector of Knock Shrine has announced. The novena began in 1977 and has continued in…
Seventeen senators and TDs across several parties have signed a letter for the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs highlighting their concerns about the treatment of the Uighur people in China. The letter asks that Ireland “immediately condemn the barbaric measures” used by Chinese authorities to decrease the Uighur population, the vast majority of which…
A hate campaign launched by the New IRA against the Primate of All-Ireland Eamon Martin has been condemned after intimidating posters were plastered outside St Eugene’s Cathedral in Derry. Archbishop Eamon was targeted because he has been encouraging young Catholics to join the PSNI. In a parish newsletter published in February, the archbishop wrote: “I…
Reopening schools will be “very challenging”, but the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association (CPSMA) are “absolutely confident” of a returning near full capacity. All students and staff excepting those in high-risk categories will return in September, according to Seamus Mulconry, general secretary of the CPSMA. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, he said: “At the primary level,…
US gameshow and talkshow host Regis Francis Xavier Philbin, who has died at the age of 88, has been praised as a longtime proponent and supporter of Catholic schools. “I think it made a great difference. Solidified me….taught me an awful lot. Everything that I am right now I attribute to” Catholic education, Philbin said…
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly refused to confirm whether that the system allowing home abortions via telemedicine will cease after the Covid-19 crisis passes, following a query from Deputy Carol Nolan. Mr Donnelly would only commit to a review of the matter once the public health emergency is over he said in answer to a…
The man whose image defined the early days of the outbreak of conflict in the North has died. Fr Paul Farren, who officiated at his funeral, said that Paddy Coyle “never let the image define him” and he lived the life of “an ordinary Catholic”. Mr Coyle was photographed in Derry as a teenager wearing…
As Hagia Sophia opened for Muslim prayers on Friday for the first time in 86 years, a leading Asian cardinal said that the decision to turn the building back into a mosque will reopen wounds and intensify divisions. In a statement sent via email on July 24, Cardinal Charles Bo said that he was grieved…
The Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) has called on the new Government to put in place a process for remembrance and reflection in post-Covid-19 Ireland. The foundation submitted a paper outlining a series of proposals for Ireland to remember and reflect on the pandemic. This includes a national series of mourning and remembrance events for all…
Former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, a Catholic who led several regional peace mediation efforts, has died. He was 81. Tanzanian President John Magufuli said Mkapa had been undergoing treatment at a hospital in Dar es Salaam, where he died on July 24. Magufuli urged the people to remain calm, united and peaceful as they mourned…
Chai Brady
Ruadhán Jones