Laws against prostitution should be used to “tackle” sex buyers and ‘pimps’, a charity has said after a ruling saw two women jailed in Kildare. Dedicated to supporting people in prostitution, Catholic-founded Ruhama has criticised a decision to jail two women for nine months for running a brothel. A premises in Newbridge was raided in…

Virtual candles and online petitions will be high-tech ways of giving Limerick’s Redemptorist community a global reach. Dubbed by one man “the Munster final of religion”, the annual Novena in honour of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is expected to draw thousands of people from all over north Munster and beyond. In this multi-media age,…

Mark Patrick Hederman In a homily delivered in Belfast’s St Anne’s Cathedral, Mark Patrick Hederman OSB, reflects on the life of the Duchess of Abercorn Alexandra Hamilton – known as Sacha – who died on December 9, 2018. Dear Friends of Sacha, We are not here today to bury our beloved. That happened, most appropriately,…

While numbers entering seminaries and religious life across Europe have been in decline over recent decades, there is a slow rise now with young people coming into religious life “more prepared, usually from a spiritual direction point of view”, according to the Director of Vocations Ireland. Returning from a meeting in Rome for people working…

Couples with no faith who want a church marriage are exploiting a sacred service, a Cork-based priest has said. Fr Tomás Walsh SMA of Gurranabraher said that couples who seek a Catholic wedding without having any faith themselves are taking advantage the religious ceremony. “I think that a lot of the church marriages that go…

Despite various reports last year that Dublin’s World Meeting of Families would cost up to €40 million, the festival’s Secretary General has confirmed that “it came in under budget”. Fr Timothy Bartlett told this newspaper that WMOF cost under its €20 million budget and that the final figures of the event will be available to…

Popular Passionist priest Fr Brian D’Arcy has been awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to community relations. “I’m amazed,” he told The Irish Catholic, “in many ways it gives you an opportunity to encourage community building and when you get that opportunity – take it in both hands.” Reaction to the…

Claims that Pope Francis has changed the Lord’s Prayer are overblown, a leading Irish ecumenist has said. “I think there’s an element of fake news surrounding the story of the Our Father in the Italian Missal,” Fr Martin Browne told The Irish Catholic. “You’d think from some of the headlines that Pope Francis had wielded…