There is evidence that Ireland is becoming more cruel and less kind. Hardly a week goes by without some horrific case of domestic abuse, street assaults and attacks on IPAS centres that terrify people and put lives in danger. Hostile exchanges on social media are making matters worse. By way of response, the first thing…

As papal charity Aid to the Church in Need publish their Religious Freedom in the World Report showing that one in ten Christians in the world faces persecution for their faith, the Irishwoman who heads the global charity Regina Lynch takes time out to speak with The Irish Catholic”s Garry O’Sullivan about the work of…

Growing up in an Irish seaside town, faith and music were as constant as the waves on the sand for the young Michael Ferguson. But his faith, unlike his music, was rather quiet. He was a Catholic in the mainly Protestant town of Portstewart – and has childhood memories of an IRA bomb wrecking the…

It’s ironic how the course of events sometimes unfolds, and how change often brings unintended consequences. When the contraceptive Pill was introduced in the 1960s, it prompted a huge debate about the ethics – and side-effects – involved. As everyone knows, this culminated in the 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, in which Pope Paul VI, against…

On November 4 Minister for Education and Youth, Helen McEntee, announced a landmark initiative in the primary education system in Ireland with the launch of an online survey of parents, guardians and primary school communities. The survey is giving voice to parents and guardians of children at pre-school level and currently in primary schools in…

Shortly after the recent presidential election, Tánaiste Simon Harris said something a bit surprising. He told reporters: “Immigration is too high”. His statement was not surprising because he said immigration is high, it is and that’s a fact.  What was surprising was that he said it at all. Immediately and predictably he was compared with…

When the then Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn launched an independent forum on patronage and pluralism in primary schools in 2011, I don’t believe that he or any of those present imagined that 14 years later there would have been little or no change in the status quo. Although there has been widespread agreement between…

On October 28, 2025, the Church marked the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s Gravissimum educationis — the declaration that first placed education at the heart of the Church’s mission. In honour of that milestone, Pope Leo XIV has given us a new compass: “Drawing New Maps of Hope.” This text is not simply…

It was hardly unexpected that the Grand Masters of the Orange Order of Ireland, England and Scotland would protest to King Charles about his recent visit to Pope Leo – in their eyes committing the grave transgression of praying with the Pontiff. The Orangemen reprimanded the King for his ecumenical gesture, and rather impertinently directed…

The Department of Education and Youth has just launched a survey to get the views of parents and guardians about the type of primary schools they want for the future. The survey, which is all online, is for parents and guardians of children currently in primary school or who will enter primary school in the…