Ruadhán Jones and Jason Osborne Bishops have warned that they “won’t be able to bring people with us” unless the Government heeds the calls of the faithful for a return of public worship. All public worship is banned under levels 3 to 5 – as it stands, following the six-week lockdown the country is expected…
CEIST, a Catholic patron body that includes Mercy and Presentation schools, are looking to provide “high-quality Catholic education” for two new schools in Meath and Wexford. The Department for Education are currently seeking patrons for schools in Gorey, Co. Wexford, and Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath, to be opened in 2022. The Department have asked parents to…
A priest whose homily went viral this week has asked the bishops to speak up about the restriction to public worship currently in place in Ireland. Fr Seán Mulligan of Carrickmacross Parish gave a homily last Sunday which unexpectedly went viral overnight in Catholic internet circles. In it, he criticised the extent to which the…
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said he will challenge authorities to provide evidence that attendance at religious ceremonies is linked to the spread of coronavirus. It comes as data reveals that since the beginning of the pandemic there have been just six outbreaks of the virus connected with what the Government describes as ‘religious/other’…
Bishop Denis Brennan has said that the “continued existence of church closures” needs to be “revisited and amended” in his letter encouraging solidarity in the “age of coronavirus” for the month of November. The Bishop of Ferns asked that people do more than “what is simply right at present”, saying “Let us as Church go…
The United States hosted the signing ceremony of the Geneva Consensus Declaration on Thursday last (October 22). The document rejects the claim that abortion is an international human right. “Today we put down a clear marker; no longer can UN agencies reinterpret and misinterpret agreed-upon language without accountability,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services…
Pope Francis has announced he will create 13 new cardinals November 28. The Pope made the announcement at the end of his Angelus address October 25, telling the crowd in St Peter’s Square the names of the nine cardinals under the age of 80, who will be eligible to vote in a conclave, and the…
The Pope’s words on same-sex civil-unions aren’t a departure from Church teaching, a leading theologian has said. In a statement, Fr Eamonn Conway of Mary Immaculate College said: “The Church’s stance towards civil unions is a matter of prudential judgement and not one of dogma. “This recent statement by Pope Francis is not to be misunderstood…
Two dioceses in central Vietnam hit by some of the worst floods in the country’s history are struggling to provide emergency aid for hundreds of thousands of victims, church officials said. The devastating floods caused by heavy rain that began two weeks ago and made worse by Tropical Storm Nangka last week have reportedly killed…
The president of Poland’s bishops’ conference has urged critics of a landmark abortion ruling to express their opposition “in a socially acceptable way” after protesters disrupted Sunday Masses. Archbishop Stanisław Gadecki issued the appeal on October 25, after the country’s constitutional court ruled that a law permitting abortion for foetal abnormalities was unconstitutional. In a…
Ruadhán Jones
Chai Brady