Moves towards a parish-based ‘apprenticeship’ model of priestly formation would mean the end of the national seminary at Maynooth, a former professor at the college has said. Calling for prospective clergy to study theology in Trinity College Dublin rather than at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Boston College’s Prof. Oliver Rafferty SJ told The Irish Catholic that any…
The patronage and ethos of Ireland’s schools should be determined at a local level by parents and communities, Minister for European Affairs Helen McEntee has said. While paying tribute to the Church and to the role of Church teachings in educating generations of Irish people, Ms McEntee stressed that not all children had positive experiences…
Nearly two million people marched on Saturday last in Pope Francis’s native land of Argentina in pro-life demonstrations dedicated to defending the life of the unborn, and offering solutions to mothers in crisis pregnancies. The rally was organised by Argentina’s March for Life, a lay-led organisation. Although Catholic bishops, evangelical pastors, and Jewish and Islamic…
Catholic education has built a “reputation of success” because of its ethos and sense of belonging, an academic has said after Catholic schools topped Northern Ireland’s leader board. A performance guide which focused on the amount of top marks students received for the 2017/18 academic year found nine out of the top 10 schools were…
Chai Brady and Hannah Harn Missionary sisters in Ireland have said they are “very concerned” about members of their religious order in Mozambique after a cyclone devastated the country. The death toll of the natural disaster has risen to over 750 in three countries in the south of Africa. In Mozambique the fatalities are believed to be about…
A Venezuelan cardinal has called on state security forces to exercise civil disobedience when given orders to use lethal force against citizens. “State security agencies exist not to take care of the government but to take care of the citizens,” said Cardinal Baltazar Porras, at a press conference last week. “Therefore, every order that is…
The former religious affairs correspondent at RTÉ has told how Bishop Eamonn Casey tried to put pressure on him in the 1980s by urging other bishops not to talk to him. Kieron Wood – who was religious affairs correspondent for the national broadcaster from 1987-1990 – told The Irish Catholic this week that Dr Casey…
A Franciscan science teacher from rural Kenya who donates most of his salary to help poorer students has been crowned the world’s best teacher. Beating 10,000 nominations from 179 countries Peter Tabichi (36) was awarded $1 million (€886,185). The maths and physics teacher at Keriko secondary school in Pwani Village won the Varkey Foundation Global…
The broadcasting regulator has rejected multiple complaints that programmes broadcast leading up to last year’s referendum on the removal of the Eighth Amendment failed to be fair, objective and impartial. Two of the complaints to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) were made against The Tonight Show, hosted by Matt Cooper and Ivan Yates, and…
More than half of US Catholics say they are very concerned about the persecution of Christians around the world, with this 58% figure up by 17% from a similar poll a year ago. When asked to rank their concerns about global issues, respondents considered persecution of Christians as a slightly more important problem than climate…
Greg Daly
Chai Brady