An American football team should visit the site of the only officially-recognised Marian apparition in the United States after pulling off a so-called ‘Hail Mary pass’, a local bishop has said. Pointing out that the community of Champion in Wisconsin’s Green Bay diocese is home to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, Milwaukee’s…

Cardinal Sean O’Malley will lead the first ever chartered pilgrimage from the Archdiocese of Boston to Knock this summer, following a transatlantic pilgrimage from New York last year. The Boston pilgrims will travel to Ireland’s National Marian Shrine by an Aer Lingus operated chartered flight to Ireland West Airport Knock on July 14. The highlight…

Ceremonies to celebrate the feast of St Brigid, February 1, at her birthplace in Faughart, (near Dundalk) Co. Louth will commence with Mass in the Oratory of St Brigid’s Shrine at 10.30am. Personal blessing with the relic of the saint will be available at the shrine from 11.30-1pm and from 2-4.30pm. The annual candlelight procession…

An Easter Rising specialist has criticised as “inaccurate” the depiction of the Church in RTÉ’s drama Rebellion. Historian Dr Shane Kenna told The Irish Catholic that the programme’s depiction of the then Archbishop of Dublin William Walsh was particularly “unfair”. “Walsh was a nationalist and while he wasn’t a fan of the Rising he was…

A group of 55 young people from across the Diocese of Kilmore were recently presented with their Pope John Paul II Awards at a ceremony in the chapel of the Diocesan Pastoral Centre in Cavan by Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop-Emeritus of Armagh and a native of the diocese. Three young people received bronze awards, 10…

Eighth amendment key election issue – claim The key human rights issue of our time is the right to life of the unborn, and defence of the Eighth Amendment must become a central issue in the upcoming general election, Family and Life’s legal advisor told a gathering in Kildare recently, writes Susan Gately. Tens of thousands of Irish people were “walking…

Satellite photos reveal monastic devastation Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery has been destroyed by ISIS, it has been revealed. Satellite images have confirmed that Deir Mar Elia – or St Elijah’s – a 1,400-year-old monastery outside Mosul, has been destroyed by the jihadist militants. It is believed the monastery was demolished between August and September 2014, shortly after Mosul was…

The Diocese of Palm Beach has rejected as “completely inaccurate” claims by an Irish priest that he was “frozen out” by the Catholic Church for raising safeguarding concerns about a fellow priest. The US diocese was responding to an article in the Irish Independent which reported on the case of Strabane native Fr John Gallagher…

Irish folk singer Dolores Keane has spoken of how her Catholic faith helped her in her fight against alcohol addiction. In an interview on the Meaning of Life with Gay Byrne, the singer explained that prayer had played a big part in her life growing up, but she then lost her faith until she sought…