Govt accused of reneging on deal with faith schools A senior Church official has accused politicians of hypocrisy over their criticism of Catholic schools. Fr Tom Deenihan also hit out at successive Governments for reneging on a 1997 deal that would guarantee the ethos of faith schools in return for the Church having fewer representatives…
Tackling homelessness must be a priority in Ireland’s new programme for government, leading campaigners have warned. The calls come after 134 families became homeless last month, bringing Ireland’s total number of homeless families to 769. Previously, the highest monthly total for newly homeless families had been 84 in August last year. The comparable figure for…
Over 200 young people are expected to attended a festival of faith next month hosted by the Office for Evangelisation and Ecumenism in the Archdiocese of Dublin. The idea behind the ‘Faith Fest’ in Clonliffe College came from four parish pastoral workers who had seen the success of the Youth Space at the Eucharistic Congress…
Fr Frankie Mulgrew, son of famed Irish comedian Jimmy Cricket, is behind an imaginative initiative in the Diocese of Salford in the North of England which is using a double-decker ‘Mercy Bus’ to bring people back to Confession this Lent. Bishop John Arnold of Salford and Mayor of Bolton, Cllr Carole Swarbrick, are pictured with…
A number of dioceses have warned that the proposed new curriculum on religion and beliefs may be “difficult” to implement in faith schools. The Archdiocese of Cashel & Emly, along with the Dioceses of Kerry, Killaloe and Limerick have issued a joint call for submissions to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) on…
Larry Donnelly More attention should be paid to the wonderful influence the Church can be on people, writes Larry Donnelly Although I write and speak a lot publicly – both in my day job as a lecturer in the School of Law at NUI Galway and in my avocation as an avid watcher of and…
A shift in practice seems to be occurring across the country, reports Cathal Barry Removals have been an integral part of the grieving process for bereaved Irish families down the years. However, it appears than an increasing number of families are opting to shun the practice, preferring instead for their deceased loved ones to be…
The presence of an “ad hoc Door of Mercy” was a huge surprise to the thousands who visited the Divine Mercy Conference in the RDS, Dublin last weekend. Praising Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s decision to allow the conference a temporary holy door, Don Devaney told The Irish Catholic “the Holy Door had a continuous queue, with…
Fr Donal Neary SJ Catechesis on the Eucharist is needed, writes Fr Donal Neary SJ The recent document It is Good for us to be Here (Veritas 2015) from the National Liturgy Centre raises important and relevant concerns about the practice of weekday liturgy when a priest is legitimately absent. Much work over the past…
St Philomena’s parish in Palmerstown, Dublin 20 is hosting a Lenten parish retreat from Friday, February 26 to Sunday, February 28 under the theme ‘Renewing ourselves in God’s loving company’. Starting on February 26 at 7.30pm Mass guest speaker Eileen O’Brien will discuss ‘Praying to God dwelling in the depths of your heart’. On February…
Cathal Barry
Greg Daly
Mags Gargan
Courtney McGrail