The wedding ceremony of a Donegal couple has become an internet sensation after singer Daniel O’Donnell led other singing stars in a musical ‘flashmob’ from the altar in honour of the newly-weds. In a move unexpected by either Patricia Swan or new husband Neil, after celebrant Fr Pat Ward had sung the opening line of…
An Irish author whose exposé on the crimes of infamous US abortionist Kermit Gosnell has become a nationwide bestseller in America has attacked the New York Times for failing to feature the book on its respected Bestseller List. Documentary maker Phelim McAleer, who is co-author of Gosnell: The Untold Story of America’s Most Prolific Serial…
Fine Gael fig-leaf gathering is arousing more than a little suspicion, writes Paul Keenan From the outset, there have been those voices who argue that the current Citizens’ Assembly, rather than giving voice to the popular will, was actually a diversionary tactic to shift the blame for any move towards introducing abortion to Ireland from…
A fundraising ball for health services in Co. Clare, prompted by a young woman’s unshakeable belief in angels, will take place this May 20. The Pink Angel Ball owes its name to the description Maureen Lavery offered of the figure she said was accompanying her through her final months with terminal cancer. Maureen died in…
The blasphemy law proves politically useful, writes Paul Keenan If politics is the art of ‘spin’, a masterclass of the art was offered to the world this week from Pakistan. Amid an angry row surrounding five abducted secular human rights activists, the nation’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan intervened on the issue of Pakistan’s…
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said there is a new “vibrancy” in the parishes of his Archdiocese of Dublin. Interviewed this week on RTÉ Radio’s Today with Seán O’Rourke in the wake of the Irish bishops’ ad limina visit to Pope Francis in Rome, Archbishop Martin was pressed on the question of lower Mass attendances since…
Experts on the translation of the Roman Missal have cautioned that any expectation of change to the translation of the Mass currently in use are “a long shot”. It comes amid reports from Rome that Pope Francis has established a new commission to review the guidelines that led to the 2011 translation, the language of…
The Bishops’ Council for Education has offered a welcome for Minister Richard Bruton’s words on religious education in Catholic schools and his proposals for a consultative process on any future divestment of schools. In a statement on behalf of the Council, its chair, Bishop Brendan Kelly said “The Council for Education will study these proposals…
Peacebuilder Fr Alec Reid was remembered at a special celebration in his honour at the Redemptorist monastery of Clonard in Belfast last weekend. Organised at the behest of the Co. Tipperary and Co. Antrim GAA boards, the memorial Mass saw the champion Senior All Ireland hurling team join with their northern counterparts to both remember…
Paul Keenan attended the ‘Laudato Si’ and Catholic Investing’ Conference in Rome It is a sad truth of our modern world that the subject of financial investing, with its language of ‘portfolios’ and ‘funds’ is an exercise in eye-glazing disinterest to most who perhaps believe that the pursuit is confined to so-called ‘money men’ operating…