Crystal Swing star Mary Murray-Burke has said she was “shocked” after being told by a researcher on a prominent radio programme not to discuss her faith as it might “offend” listeners. The singer told The Irish Catholic that she was keen to talk about a recent trip to Medjugorje on the show but was told…

Claims by EU politicians that it cannot cope with the Mediterranean migrant crisis have been dismissed as “rubbish” by special UN envoy Peter Sutherland. Irishman Mr Sutherland, a former Attorney General, who now serves as the UN special representative for migration said it was “utterly excessive” to claim that it would be “impossible for a…

More than 150 representatives of associations and movements of the lay faithful were urged to bring about a “culture of mercy” at a special one day conference at the weekend. Speakers at ‘Opening the Door of Mercy’, which was organised by the Council for Pastoral Renewal and Adult Faith Development of the Irish Bishops’ Conference,…

The late Nancy Reagan was a “very quiet and unassuming person”, the priest who accompanied the Reagans during their 1984 visit to President Ronald Reagan’s ancestral home has said. “I met her twice,” Fr Éanna Condon told The Irish Catholic, “the first time in the rose garden of White House a couple of years before…

The North’s Minister of Education has praised Catholic school principals for their “vision and commitment to changing education” and their campaign against academic selection. Education Minister, John O’Dowd, was speaking at the annual conference of the Catholic Principals Association (CPA) in the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on Friday. He told the over 300 people at…

Youth for Life NI, Precious Life and members of Queen’s Pro-Life Society, in union with Rock for Life and National Pro-Life Chalk Day, were out on the streets of Belfast spreading the pro-life message in Queen’s Quarter, Cathedral Quarter and near the Marie Stopes centre.

The bishop responsible for overseeing the area in which four Missionary Sisters of Charity were murdered on Friday, March 4 has said he is sure they died as martyrs.  “For me there is no doubt that the sisters have been victims of hatred – hatred against our faith”, Bishop Paul Hinder, who serves as apostolic…

The serious challenge posed to Catholic schools by a proposed new curriculum on religious education will be the theme for a special iCatholic livestream early next week. On Monday, March 14 at 8pm iCatholic will host a live panel discussion about the NCCA proposal to introduce Education about Religions and Beliefs and Ethics into the…

Maronite bishops welcome ecumenical embrace The embrace in Cuba between Pope Francis and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill and their subsequent Joint Declaration represent “an ecumenical and prophetic step”, the bishops of the Maronite Church have said. Recognising how the February 12 encounter had been “prompted by a shared sense of responsibility”, the Maronite bishops thanked Pope Francis for…

A politician in the Isle of Man has apologised for being “lax” after he was accused of plagiarising large extracts of an article opposing same-sex marriage that appeared in The Irish Catholic newspaper. Zac Hall, who used the allegedly plagiarised text in a speech against same-sex marriage in the Isle of Man’s House of Keys,…