The decision to involve the Vatican’s child protection commission in training new bishops is very welcome, child abuse survivor Marie Collins has said. Mrs Collins, in Rome for a plenary assembly of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, told The Irish Catholic that the commission has been “invited to take part in training…

In a sign of rising tensions for the Christian community in Indonesia, Muslim extremists have interrupted a Mass in Central Java, little over a week after a priest was attacked by an axe-wielding assailant at another celebration. During the celebration in the parish of St Peter Purwosari, near Surakarta, two men in the congregation of…

The Irish Country Women’s Association (ICA) has not distanced itself from a new campaign by the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI)  to repeal the Eighth amendment and introduce ‘safe, legal’ abortion to Ireland”. The ICA is a member of the Women’s Council.  Asked by The Irish Catholic if the ICA also wanted ‘safe and…

Pope prays for nun murdered in Haiti Pope Francis has offered prayers for a Spanish missionary sister killed in Haiti. At the conclusion of events marking the canonisation of St Teresa of Kolkata in Rome on September 4, the Pope recalled Sr Isabel Sola Macas, murdered in a robbery on September 2.  “At this moment, I would like to remember those…

After a six-year gap, the singing sensation, the Priests, will release their fourth album on October 7.  The new album Alleluia, features a mix of traditional hymns (Nearer My God To Thee, Céad Míle Fáilte Romhat, The Lord is my Shepherd) and the classical oratorios for which the men are famous (Ave Verum and the…

Ukrainian Catholic Fr Mykhailo Romaniuk blesses families from the Ukrainian community of Paris, France in St Volodymyr the Great Cathedral to mark the beginning of the new school year. Photo: CNS

Pupils can feel vulnerable and embarrassed in sex education classes in school, according to a new study which looks at the experience of pupils in a number of countries, including Ireland. The study appears in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal. It also reports that pupils dislike their usual teacher teaching sex education.…

September 12 marked the 10th anniversary of perhaps the most controversial papal speech of the last half-century, an address given by emeritus Pope Benedict XVI in Regensburg, Germany, in 2006, which sparked a firestorm of protest across the Islamic world. In the opening section of the speech, Benedict cited a 14th-Century dialogue between a Byzantine…

Br Kevin Madigan OSB (left) after his recent Simple Profession of Monastic Vows at Glenstal Abbey, pictured with Abbot Brendan Coffey OSB.      

An entirely new front in the war against so-called Islamic State (ISIS) was opened up at the end of August, and once again, the bulk of the western media missed it. More eager for the immediacy of daily bombings in Syria and battlefield gains by Turkish tanks and allies in pushing ISIS ever further back…