Irish Columban Fr Shay Cullen has used the occasion of his receiving the Hugh O’Flaherty Humanitarian Award to call on Ireland to lead by example on human rights.   Addressing the audience at the awards ceremony in Killarney, Co. Kerry last weekend, Fr Cullen said Ireland’s commitment to resettle 4,000 refugees fleeing conflict is “an…

Pope hosts unique Mass for prisoners Pope Francis celebrated a special Mass for prisoners in the presence of 1,000 inmates on November 6. Organissed as part of the Vatican’s Year of Mercy celebrations, the Mass at St Peter’s Basilica brought prisoners together from 12 countries along with their families as well as prison chaplains. Addressing…

The Association of Missionaries and Religious in Ireland (AMRI) is inviting all returned missionaries to participate in a seminar to evaluate the skills and tools acquired by them in their years of mission work.   The event aims to offer space for missionaries to dialogue, exchange ideas and discuss challenges they now face on mission…

A woman holds up a cross as people pray along the US-Mexico border fence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, while taking part in a Mass in support of migrants who died trying to cross illegally into the US. The border Mass was sponsored by dioceses of El Paso, Texas, Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez.…

Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly of Cashel and Emly leads applause in the renovated chapel of Glenstal Abbey following the abbatial blessing of Abbot Brendan Coffey OSB.

Rhina Guidos The responsibilities entrusted to him are great: caring for about 50 shrines, more than two dozen parishes, various schools and other services provided by more than 250 Franciscan friars stationed at some of the most embattled places in the Middle East. But Franciscan Father Francesco Patton seems almost serene about the mission and…

Staff Reporter A founding member of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) has described a letter from the hierarchy to the organisation as a “sugar-coated push off”. Redemptorist Fr Tony Flannery also expressed the view that future meetings between the ACP and the Irish bishops’ conference would be a waste of time. He was responding…

A Baptist church in the US state of Mississippi has become the focal point for goodwill across the world after it was the scene of an arson attack on November 1. Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville was gutted by a fire which took responding firefighters some hours to completely control. Investigators subsequently found evidence…

Just three members of the Irish hierarchy remain active members of Vatican departments, following the news that Tuam’s Archbishop Michael Neary is one of almost 20 prelates leaving the Vatican’s department of the liturgy. The Vatican announced on October 28 that 27 new members had been appointed to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the…

Last week, for a mere 60 hours – fleeting when set against the last 1,500 years  – the tomb of the crucified Jesus lay fully open for the first time within the sanctified confines of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.   With the power to move Christians everywhere, more locally the site’s…