As finance ministers representing the world’s wealthiest countries prepare to meet online, Caritas Internationalis has echoed Pope Francis’ call for debt relief to poor countries reeling from war, poverty and the coronavirus pandemic. Presenting the organisation’s annual report at an online media briefing on July 17, Aloysius John, secretary-general of Caritas Internationalis, said the debt…
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has assured the Minister for Education that schools under his patronage will meet “urgent provision” for units for autistic students, following a Government letter. Former Minister Joe McHugh sent a letter instructing 36 Catholic schools on the southside of the city to open special classes this September for students with autism. Archbishop…
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A marriage counsellor at Accord says she is “not surprised” that divorce rates have remained largely the same since last year’s referendum on the terms for divorce in Ireland. New data provided by the Courts Service to Culture Minister Josepha Madigan last week shows no major variation in the number of divorces being granted. Mary…
Archbishop Eamon Martin has welcomed a decision by the northern Executive to lift coronavirus restrictions that had closed cemeteries in the region. Politicians were under increasing pressure to make the move and Archbishop Eamon was amongst Church leaders who appealed to the First Minister Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill on Thursday to…
My wife and I were test-driving an electric car the other day, when my 10-year-old son announced from the back seat, “This might be the car I learn to drive in!” He was right, too. He turns 11 this autumn, and we could easily keep the car for another six years. In six years’ time,…
A Doctor’s War by Aidan MacCarthy (Gill Books ex Collins Press, €11.19) This is a fascinating war memoir by a remarkable survivor, who attributed his safe-keeping to divine intervention. Aidan MacCarthy was born in Castletownbeare, Co. Cork in 1914. He was educated at Clongowes Wood College, which for his English readers he describes as “the Eton…
With the announcement that persecuted Christian Asia Bibi is to be released from Pakistan in a matter of weeks, a prominent human rights charity has said there should be no assumptions made about her safety until she is in a secure country. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan told journalists last week that Ms Bibi, who…
Priests and people in the Diocese of Ossory need to take ownership of local pastoral needs to ensure parishes face the future in a healthy and dynamic way, Bishop Dermot Farrell has said. Speaking to The Irish Catholic about his pastoral letter ‘A Pathway for our Parishes’, Bishop Farrell said change is already afoot and…
Following a huge increase in anti-Semitic attacks in France and Britain’s Labour Party embroilment in anti-Semitism, Ireland’s Jewish community are “horrified” but relieved this is not the case here, but warn criticism of Israel can shadow or morph into racism. A February government report in France revealed a 74% rise in anti-Semitic incidents, increasing from…
Ruadhán Jones
Michael Kelly
Rory Fitzgerald
Greg Daly
Chai Brady