An Australian priest working in a West Belfast parish and a couple living next to a Co. Tyrone parochial house may have been threatened by the same armed intruders. Fr Denis Ryan (70) from Ballarat, Victoria, was providing holiday cover at St Michael the Archangel Church in Andersontown for a second successive year when two…
A cycle of violence continues, writes Paul Keenan
Rachel Beard A Co. Laois-based parish priest has hit out against an attitude towards refugees and asylum seekers in Ireland which he has branded as “racist”. Fr Paddy Byrne of Portlaoise told The Irish Catholic he believes “that there’s an underbelly in Irish society that’s quite cynical to refugees and a great sense of xenophobia where…
Stephen Duffy and Kevin Malcolmson awaiting ordination by Clogher’s Bishop Liam MacDaid in Monaghan’s St McCartan’s Cathedral on Sunday, July 24. Fr Duff y and Fr Malcolmson celebrated their first Masses the following evening in their home parish churches, St Patrick’s in Tullycorbet parish and St Mary’s in Aghabog.
A new documentary film on Knock and its apparition will open in Irish cinemas on August 26. Strange Occurrences in a Small Irish Village looks at all aspects of Knock, from the historic apparition of 1879 to the more than one million pilgrims who visit the shrine annually and the community welcoming the faithful visitors.…
The planned Citizens’ Assembly is intended to enable the Government to claim a spurious distance from the consequences of a referendum on repealing Ireland’s constitutional pro-life protections, Elphin’s Bishop Kevin Doran has said. Speaking at an event organised by Family & Life, Dr Doran, said that in his personal view, the assembly would be “nothing…
Fr Brendan McCarrick SAC with Bishop Brendan Kelly of Achony after Dr Kelly ordained him as a Pallottine priest at Fr McCarrick’s home parish of Mullinabreena, Co. Sligo, on Sunday, July 24.
Maynooth’s neo-gothic college chapel was the fitting setting for the investiture of five new knights of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem at the weekend. The solemn ceremony was presided over by Cardinal Edwin F. O’Brien, Grand Master of the order who had travelled from Rome for the occasion. The order, founded…
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has officially requested that the Vatican become involved in mediating talks aimed at seeking a solution to the nation’s catastrophic economic crisis. Following weeks of resistance on the part of the president to any negotiations with his political rivals, even as dangerous food and medical shortages grow ever worse, Mr Maduro…
Staff reporter A proposal to reduce the time dedicated to religious education in primary schools will further undermine the “distinctive ethos” of Catholic schools, Dr Tom Finegan of The Iona Institute has said. Speaking to The Irish Catholic this week, Dr Finegan criticised pressures being placed on Catholic schools to become ever more secular through a…
Paul Keenan
Greg Daly