Following successive years of falling vocations and the retirement of priests, the Diocese of Killaloe has been buoyed by the news that three men from counties Clare and Tipperary will enter the seminary at Maynooth later this month. For the first time in two decades, three vocations have been recorded in one of Ireland’s largest…
In anticipation of the primary relic of the ‘Millennial Saint’ Blessed Carlo Acutis journeying around parishes in Leinster this month, Catholics are preparing for the momentous event, including one young devotee who testified that the faith and story of Blessed Carlo “touched her heart”. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Mary-Aoife Ong, co-director of Carlo Acutis…
Alan Hynes If there is one genre of engagement with education policy in Ireland that is likely to prompt a unity of weary groans from all working within schools, it is politicians or campaigning groups ‘calling on’ schools to address some social ill through education. These generally fall into two broad categories: 1) calling on…
The Irish Catholic Autumn Legacy Supplement 2024 It all started with two Franciscan friars and a cup of tea in 1969. Ireland’s most beloved charity has spoken the language of the human heart ever since — here for the homeless and hungry for more than five decades, thanks to the caring donations of everyday people.…
The Irish Catholic Autumn Legacy Supplement 2024 Home. It’s where you feel most secure. Where your loved ones and your memories are. Where you can be most yourself. But today, for thousands here in Ireland, the stark reality of their lives is homelessness, emergency accommodation or the awful looming threat that they are weeks, days…
The Focus Ireland annual report 2023 was released this week. In the last year, the charity had an increase of 12.5% in the number of people supported compared to the 2022 report, and an increase of almost 10% in the number of households supported. That is 1,757 households helped to either keep their home or…
Turning to the past with dread, I forced myself to watch Stolen, a new RTÉ documentary billed as the inside story of the Mother and Baby homes. It was not only the wounded past I dreaded to look at, but a documentary which I (rightly) guessed would approach this tragic subject, with its own provocative…
The Irish Catholic Autumn Legacy Supplement 2024 I am writing this from the Mater hospital. I went in last week with a sore throat and a week later I am just on the verge of getting out. I have always been healthy. I don’t think I have ever taken a sick-day in more than 25…
St Bernadette gives hope to young people facing the challenge of discerning their future, says Fr Barry White Lourdes has always been a place of prayer and healing in my family, especially during times of suffering and illness. My journey with Lourdes began in childhood, inspired by books and the 1943 film The Song of…
Part 3 of a new series on Faith in modern Ireland with Eoin McCormack Have you ever found yourself in the often-awkward position in work or in another social setting where you are somehow elected the spokesperson for all things Catholic? This column over the next several weeks is taking a look at how we…
Brandon Scott
Renata Steffens
Martina Purdy