Fine Gael to push ahead on referendum The visit of Pope Francis for the World Meeting of Families is set to be overshadowed by the Government’s likely push for a referendum on abortion next year, senior Church sources have indicated to The Irish Catholic. Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar – the man tipped by many…
Two of the three young shepherd children who in 1917 saw the apparitions of Our Lady in Fatima will be canonised when Pope Francis visits the Portuguese town on May 13, the Pope has said. During an ordinary public consistory in the Vatican, the Pontiff announced the canonisation of a total of 35 people, most…
Fr Johnny Doherty CSsR hands a Mission Cross to Brian Fitzsimons at a drive-thru mission stall outside the Church of St Nicholas Ardglass where the Redemptorist Fathers from Clonard Monastery are conducting a mission in the parish of Dunsford and Ardglass until Sunday, April 30. Looking on is parish priest, Fr Gerry McCloskey. Photo: Bill…
The Pope’s line on tackling persecution allows others to be more assertive, writes John L. Allen Jr. That there’s a rising tide of anti-Christian persecution around the world in the early 21st Century is an empirical fact. Christians are hardly the only ones facing threats, of course, but because of their numbers and the zones…
Bishop Fintan Monahan of Killaloe with his dog Barra, pictured after the bishop completed the Connemara International Marathon on Sunday, raising over €600 for Trócaire.
James Norton, star of TV’s Grantchester, has criticised the trend of faith being portrayed negatively on television as “exorcisms and cults”. The actor, who plays crimebusting cleric Rev. Canon Sidney Chambers in the series which is about to begin its third run, said the “idea of faith isn’t really explored any more on television; now the only…
A Belfast church is set to open a soup kitchen service for the city’s homeless, in response to Pope Francis’ call to reach out to those in need with concrete acts of mercy. St Patrick’s Church in Donegall Street hosted a Mass of Hope for Belfast’s homeless community on Wednesday and will begin distributing food…
Limerick’s diocesan day of lay-led liturgies has been a big success, according to early reports. The morning of Tuesday, April 25, saw lay-led liturgies of the word in every Limerick parish, while diocesan clergy were away on in-service formation. “There were about 150 to 200 people in the cathedral,” Noirín Lynch of the Diocesan Pastoral…
Fr John Kenny of Partry parish, Co. Mayo promoting his second ‘Pedal Paddle Pilgrimage’ on May 20 to raise funds for Pieta House. It involves a cycle from Westport to Croagh Patrick, a climb to the summit for Mass and then paddling in Clew Bay at Murrisk Abbey followed by a party in Clew Bay…
Staff reporter Irish priests have welcomed Pope Francis’ decision to celebrate a Mass for modern martyrs while wearing the stole of a martyred former student of the Irish College in Rome. “I think it’s very significant,” Fr Gerard Magee, chaplain at Queen’s University Belfast, said of the Pope’s decision to wear Fr Ragheed Ganni’s stole…
Michael Kelly
Courtney McGrail
John L. Allen Jr.
Mags Gargan
Greg Daly