Education proposals ‘attack’ faith schools A new submission to the Department of Education from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) attacks the rights and ethos of faith schools, the Iona Institute has claimed. The institute has especially challenged the commission’s recommendation that faith schools lose their right to accommodate children of their religious…

Pope Francis closes the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica to mark the closing of the jubilee Year of Mercy at the Vatican November 20. Photo: CNS

Bishop Fintan Monahan of Killaloe takes the opportunity to snap proceedings at Mount St Joseph Abbey, Roscrea, to mark the close of the Jubilee Year of Mercy last Sunday, November 20. Photo: Sean Curtin True Media.

“Preach always, and, when necessary, use words,” is a line frequently (though likely apocryphally) attributed to St Francis of Assisi. The papal version of the same idea might be formulated as: “Govern always, and, when necessary, issue decrees.” That is to say, pretty much everything a Pope does exercises leadership and shapes culture in the…

Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin has been accused of seeking to provide political cover “to silence services or advocates that do not support abortion as a solution to a crisis pregnancy”. Independent TD Mattie McGrath spoke in response to the publication of the Health and Social Care Professionals (Amendment) Bill brought forward by Mr Howlin…

The nation’s bishops have issued a plea in the war on drugs, writes Paul Keenan

The Diocese of Waterford and Lismore will officially open the Holy Family Mission in Glencomeragh on December 2. Operating under the auspices of the diocese, the Mission is a new residential Catholic community of young people aged 18-30, which draws from the tradition of the Catholic faith to form young people, and families, to live…

A Co. Fermanagh priest who has spoken forcefully against Brexit and whose house was attacked on Remembrance Sunday has said he hopes the attack will encourage people to work for peace. Fr Joseph McVeigh told Enniskillen parishioners that while the house had been attacked in the past, he “thought that those days were over”. Lamenting…

John Reid Independent Senator Rónán Mullen has branded Minister for Skills John Halligan as the Donald Trump of Irish politics, due to intemperate language he has used toward opponents of his latest controversial push to legalise euthanasia. Mr Halligan is planning to introduce a private members’ bill which, if enacted, would make it legal to…

Students and society would benefit if Religious Education was included as a core subject in the curriculum of all schools, an expert in education will tell a conference on faith education in Kerry next week.  Dr Amelee Meehan, who works in the area of faith leadership for the Catholic Education an Irish Schools’ Trust (CEIST),…