The number of children attending Catholic primary schools in Ireland is increasing according to the latest Department of Education enrolment data. Almost 2,600 additional denominational primary school places were created this year compared to last which represents an increase of 0.5%. Similarly, there was a 0.8% rise in the number of students attending denominational post…
The widespread practice of Catholics receiving communion in the hand while standing up is part of Satan’s attack on the Church, the head of the Vatican department dealing with liturgy has said. In the preface to a book on the subject, Cardinal Robert Sarah lamented the lack of reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, saying this…
A Co. Cavan man is “delighted and humbled” by the generosity of farmers around Ireland contributing machinery for a farm school in Burkina Faso. Paul Connolly and seven others, spent over a week building a milking parlour near Pahin, Burkina Faso immediately after Christmas. The Cavan optician, whose business is part of the ‘Economy of Communion’…
The Government has been accused of misinformation over a controversial new rule insisting that schools provide alternative tuition for students who wish to opt out of religious instruction, despite not providing schools with new resources. The move has been severely criticised by the Religion Teachers’ Association of Ireland. According to the RTAI, which represents over 250…
A unique charity challenge As part of Trócaire’s Lenten campaign, the charity is challenging people to come offline and give up social media for 24 hours. The ‘Sign Up Sign Out Challenge’ takes place on March 7, and encourages everyone to stay off social media for a full day, and asks them to instead seek sponsorship and…
Protesting several actions described as a systematic campaign “against the churches and the Christian community in the Holy Land”, the heads of Christian churches announced they were closing the doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Bewildered pilgrims milled around the square in front of the church as Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III, who…
Migration is not a crime and vulnerable migrant and refugee children should not be detained as if they were criminals, speakers said at a UN programme. More than one dozen speakers addressed ‘Ending the Detention of Migrant and Refugee Children: Best Interest Determination and Alternatives to Detention’ in a fast-paced discussion hosted by the Permanent…
The Church in South Korea has gathered over a million names on a petition to keep the country’s anti-abortion law in place. As South Korea continues to modernise and with the number of single mothers on the rise, calls to decriminalise abortion have increased from sectors of society. “The signature-gathering campaign was conducted voluntarily and it served as an opportunity to…
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the Irish-American Archbishop of Newark, has apologised for what he described as an embarrassing gaffe on social media after he posted a message to Twitter which included “Nighty-night, baby. I love you”. Within two hours the tweet had been deleted, and a diocesan spokesman insisted that the cardinal was boarding a flight at the…
The decision by Irish financial institutions to sell tens of thousands of distressed mortgages this week will “undoubtedly” have an impact on efforts to tackle homelessness, an Irish charity has warned. After Ulster bank announced it will offload 7,000 distressed loans this morning (Friday 23) in addition to Permanent TSB’s (PTSB) 14,000 revealed earlier this…
Colm Fitzpatrick
Susan Gately
Chai Brady