The Archdiocese of Dublin is discouraging the non-traditional practice of placing mementoes on coffins among new policies around the conduct of funerals. In a new Funeral Ministry document, the diocese states that “a relatively new custom, which is not strictly part of the Funeral Rites, is the presentation of mementoes of the person who has…

The initiative launched by the son of Munster legend Anthony ‘Axel’ Foley to get people going back to Mass has been met with huge support across Ireland and beyond. Eleven-year-old Tony set up a Facebook page in honour of his father to appeal to people to attend Mass for eight Sundays to Christmas to remember…

A statue of St Patrick saved from destruction in Co. Leitrim is on its was to a new home in Bangkok, Thailand, after its rescue by a local historian and a special fundraiser to erect it at a Catholic-run charity in the Thai capital. ‘St Patrick of Gortletteragh’, originally commissioned for the village’s parish church…

Following losses of almost half a million euro, Ireland’s largest religious publishers have vowed to turn their dire financial situation around, The Irish Catholic has learned. Despite several successive years of crippling losses and a net loss of €496,580 in 2015, in its newly published financial statements for 2015, Veritas claims to have a plan…

John Reid A Dublin priest has expressed concern after the National Transport Authority (NTA) published plans that would see a new road driven through his church carpark. Fr Fergus O’Connor, parish priest at our Lady Queen of Peace Church on Merrion Road, said half of the church’s carefully rebuilt car park would be removed under the…

Young children dressed at St Teresa of Calcutta and St Kateri Tekakwitha at Navan parish’s All Saints’ Party on October 31, where the children joined in prayer calling for peace in Syria.

The cardinal leading the earthquake-struck Archdiocese of Perugia-Città della Pieve in Italy has instructed priests to celebrate Mass outdoors amid fears of more tremors and structural collapses in the area. Following consultation with political and emergency service leaders in the aftermath of the devastating October 26 quake, Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti issued his instruction for the…

Fr Frankie Mulgrew, a former comedian and the son of comedian Jimmy Cricket, has appeared in a music video to accompany an Electric Dance Music song penned to coincide with the closing of Pope Francis’ Year of Mercy.  As the Pontiff’s UK Youth Ambassador, Fr Mulgrew (pictured above with the Pontiff) was eager to lend…

Iraq’s Chaldean Patriarch Raphael Louis I Sako has expressed hope that the country’s second city, Mosul will be liberated to return to the “beautiful mosaic” of communities and faith traditions it was before the onslaught of so-called Islamic State (ISIS). In a letter to the nation, the Patriarch assures all soldiers currently fighting to rout…

John Reid and Paul Keenan Priests have been sharply critical of the decision to move the Dublin city marathon to a Sunday, meaning many parishioners were unable to attend Mass due to road closures in the capital. Many parishes along the route reported that Mass attendance was down on Sunday morning. Race organisers moved the marathon from the traditional…