The Irish Association for the Lasallian Mission (De La Salle) held its AGM in Castletown, Portlaoise recently. Fifty school principals, teachers and others spent time together to review and plan for how best to promote its mandate of “human and Christian education”. Its president, Tom O’Neill, Waterford welcomed the gatherings from all over Ireland and…

A documentary following the work of an Irish missionary sister supporting people with HIV/AIDS has been nominated for the Kenyan version of the Oscars.  Nurtured with Love, a video on the work undertaken by the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa in the Love and Hope Centre in Nakuru, Kenya, has been nominated for this year’s…

Cormac O’Duffy, a former teacher and graduate of UCD and UL, had his oratorio The Wedding Feast of the Lamb premiered in front of a full church at St John the Evangelist in Philadelphia during the World Meeting of Families (WMOF). The work, dedicated to marriage and family, was performed by the Choirs of Villanova…

Television icon Oprah Winfrey has credited her church upbringing for being the catalyst for her successful global media career. The American talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist, was born into poverty in rural Missisippi to a teenage single mother. Speaking in a video to promote her new series Belief, which is about the “ongoing…

The Parish Cells National Seminar hosted in St John the Evangelist Parish, Ballinteer, while celebrating 25 years of parish cells in Ireland, had as its theme ‘A Vision for Parish Community – how a cell community can contribute to parish life”. In 1990 Fr Michael Hurley and three parishioners from Ballinteer attended an international seminar…

A parish appeal in Belfast to raise funds to help alleviate the suffering of refugees fleeing war in Syria has raised an incredible €70,000.  Sparked by frustration at what they saw as a poor political response to the crisis, the Redemptorist community at Clonard Monastery undertook fundraising collections at the end of September, which was…

Iraq’s most prominent bishop has called upon the synod of bishops to “feel the experience” of Christian refugees who, rather than converting to Islam when threatened with violence, have abandoned their homes and possessions.  In a homily opening the synod’s sixth day, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako said “Faith, like love, is a…

Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, currently in Rome for the Synod on the Family, called for prayers throughout the diocese for the Traveller families affected by the “heartbreaking” fire in Carrickmines. Ten people, including children as young as six months, died in a fire at a Traveller site on Saturday morning. The parish priest of the…

US cardinal warns against ‘older brother syndrome’  Those who live the faith assiduously must resist temptations to feel neglected or upset by the Synod of Bishops’ emphasis on those who struggle more, according to Washington, DC’s Cardinal Donald Wuerl. Recalling the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, the cardinal said, “Yes, there could be…

Precious Life, the largest pro-life group in the North, has opened a new pregnancy care centre in Belfast. Speaking at the opening of Stanton Healthcare Belfast on Tuesday, Precious Life’s director, Bernadette Smyth said, the centre will “offer a much needed alternative” to the Marie Stope Clinic at no cost “because we believe that women…