Courtney McGrailOver 450 teenagers took part in the spectacular diocesan youth concert ‘Awakening’ organised by Tuam archdiocese last week. Religion and music teachers from 18 different secondary schools throughout the diocese had been working on the project for the last few months, which attracted over 700 people to the Breaffy Arena in Castlebar. Creative genius Awakening…
Category: News
‘I loved Pope John Paul II’ – Dolores O’Riordan
Staff Reporter Singer Dolores O’Riordan has revealed how her mother’s faith has helped her through tough times and one of the highlights of her career was taking her mum to meet Pope John Paul II. After a whirlwind period at the tops of the charts with over 40 million in sales worldwide, the lead singer…
Parishes showing ‘new openness’ to youth ministry
Mags Gargan
Youth ministries working on a national level in Ireland have reported a new openness from parish priests and pastoral councils to engage with young people. Tony Foy, Executive Director of Net Ministries, told The Irish Catholic that in recent years they have had to send their youth evangelisation teams to Scotland because they couldn’t find…
Christianity must not quit public space, insists Primate
Greg Daly
Society will be impoverished if religion is barred from influencing public life, while Faith is impoverished if it is compartmentalised and treated as a purely private activity, Archbishop Eamon Martin has said. Speaking at Norwich’s University of East Anglia on the theme ‘The Church in the Public Sphere – a perspective from Ireland’, the Archbishop…
Faithful asked to make a date for vocations
A new vocations prayer initiative was launched on Vocations Sunday, which is asking the faithful to pray for vocations on Saturday, May 13 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima. Pope Francis will be in Fatima for the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima on Saturday, where he…
Galway City Council cuts opening prayers
Galway City Council has voted to abandon its practice of opening its monthly meeting with a prayer. The vote to scrap the prayer in favour of a moment of silent reflection was tied at seven votes each until the council’s deputy chairperson, Fine Gael’s Pearce Flannery, used his casting vote to back the motion to…
Knock Shrine leads first pilgrimage to New York
In a role reversal, Knock Shrine sent out pilgrims on a charter flight to the US this week to take part in a ceremony that will see the remains of the youngest witness to the Knock apparition reinterred at Old St Patrick’s Cathedral, New York. The remains of John Curry will be brought from the…
Bishop: ‘God can look after himself without needing blasphemy laws’
Gay Byrne blasts ‘nonsense’ law’ God is fully capable of standing up for himself and doesn’t need blasphemy laws to protect him, according to Bishop Kevin Doran. He was speaking to The Irish Catholic after a mini-storm after a minor controversy when a complaint to gardaí led to British entertainer Stephen Fry being investigated for…
French bishops welcome Macron’s landslide election victory
Welcoming the election of Emmanuel Macron as president of France, the head of the French bishops’ conference has said he hoped elections next month to the National Assembly will not place the country “in an ungovernable situation”. Elected last weekend with 66.1% of votes in the second-round presidential ballot, former economy minister and head of…
Aifreann Lá na gClubanna – a great day for the parish
Fr Robert McCabe with members of the three GAA clubs of St Mary’s parish in Navan, Co. Meath, where he celebrated Aifreann Lá na gClubanna at the weekend for the local teams.