A Ghanaian government official used a Catholic girls’ school celebration to emphasise the need to educate girls as well as boys. “The education of boys has always taken precedence over that of girls, and we normally use social and cultural misconceptions to discriminate against girls in terms of educational access,” Benedicta Tenni Seidu, director of…
Fine Gael MEPs have voted against a resolution to step up search and rescue for refugees in the Mediterranean Sea. The European Parliament rejected the vote asking member states to step up efforts to save asylum seekers making the perilous crossing late last week. All of Fine Gael’s MEPs – Mairead McGuinness, Maria Walsh, Frances…
The greatest benefit of a newly-introduced qualification for teachers is an increased sense of confidence to self-identify as Catholic in the classroom and in the staffroom, according to its first graduates. It comes at a time when many Catholic teachers have been voicing concern that it is becoming difficult to express one’s faith and exercise leadership rooted…
Pope’s new book calls for spiritual rebirth The global ecological crisis is just one of the effects of a distorted and diseased view people have of the world, themselves and each other, Pope Francis has said in a new book. In fact, addressing a global crisis demands a global approach, which must start with “a…
Counsellor sues Catholic school over same-sex marriage policy An Indiana guidance counsellor has filed a lawsuit against an Indianapolis Catholic school which placed her on administrative leave after she contracted a same-sex marriage, and did not renew her contract when it expired. Shelly Fitzgerald, who worked at Roncalli High School for 15 years, filed suit…
Paula McKeown On Saturday, October 19, Fr Conor McGrath, Missions Delegate for the Diocese of Down and Connor welcomed a group of people passionate about the contribution of Irish missionaries to St Mary’s University College in Belfast for a one-day conference. The conference, organised for the Extraordinary Month of Mission, gave those gathered a rich…
Shake-up may see students leave historic home EXCLUSIVE Radical plans that would see Maynooth seminary leaving the college’s neogothic buildings in favour of a new purpose-built home on the same campus are being considered by the hierarchy, Primate of All-Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin has told The Irish Catholic. The proposal is part of a radical shake-up…
Scholars of St John Henry Newman have criticised Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for misunderstanding the new saint’s teaching on conscience. Speaking in the Dáil last week, Mr Varadkar rejected Archbishop Eamon Martin’s recent comments that Catholic politicians are obliged to support laws that uphold the dignity of every person from conception to death. The Taoiseach said…
Modern liberalism and secularism depend on Christianity to make sense, a leading historian has said. Although modern Ireland may believe itself to have become a profoundly secular society it remains as shaped by the legacy of Christianity as when it was a very religious society, Tom Holland said, describing Christianity as “a huge depth charge…
Many priests and religious applying to come to Ireland to minister or study are being left with a bitter taste rather than the much-vaunted ‘céad míle fáilte’, an investigation by The Irish Catholic has revealed. The Department of Justice has been accused of tightening up rules on missionaries in a way that is discriminatory and…
Greg Daly
Chai Brady