Every day until Referendum day a group of lay people and clergy are climbing Croagh Patrick and spending 24 hours in prayer at the summit before the Blessed Sacrament for the preservation of the Eighth Amendment. Tuam’s Archbishop Michael Neary and Westport parish priest, Fr Charlie McDonnell gave their blessing to the venture which began on April…
Precious symbols of Catholic faith are being lost to Irish heritage as awareness of Mass rocks disappears from living memory, a leading academic has warned. University of Liverpool-based human geographer Dr Hilary Bishop, who has extensively researched Mass rocks, discovered that in Co. Cork alone there are at least 300 more Mass rocks than are…
Such was the demand to see the film about Irish Missionary Sr Clare Crockett earlier this week that the Brunswick Moviebowl in Derry had to put on three extra showings of the documentary. More than a thousand people attended All or Nothing – Sister Clare on April 16 and 18. “I’m still getting phonecalls to…
“The line in the proclamation ‘to cherish all the children of the nation equally’ is more relevant today than ever before,” said Dr Judy Ceannt, grandniece to the Proclamation signatory Eamon Ceannt, at a gathering of republicans and trade unionists on the anniversary of the Easter Rising. Speaking at the demonstration outside Dublin’s GPO organised…
WMOF 2018 Despite at times inclement weather, the Family Picnic Fun Day in Lough Key Forest Park last Sunday (April 22) was a winner. “One of the lovely things about the west of Ireland is that people are so used to the weather that they come out anyway, because [otherwise] you’d never come out,”…
A bill on social media transparency, currently at committee stage, should become law before the Referendum on the Eighth Amendment, according to its sponsor, Fianna Fáil’s James Lawless, TD. “On social media at the moment anyone can do anything they want,” the Kildare North TD told The Irish Catholic. “It is positive that people can…
Thousands of people defied arctic temperatures on Sunday to pray the rosary at Mass rocks for ‘Life and Faith’, organisers have said. “On the east coast, the crowds were decimated,” Kathy Sinnott told The Irish Catholic, adding that most gatherings went ahead elsewhere. In Dublin, a small number gathered at the Papal cross, while others…
Eucharist is essential food for the daily journeys of a group of sisters, writes Susan Gately The Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother, dressed in white habits, arrived in Roscommon town last May. “People are very open and friendly. They meet us on the streets and beep their horns at us because most…
A leading theologian has said that the Pope’s decision to institute a new feastday of Our Lady as ‘Mary, Mother of the Church’ is a way of underlining the importance of avoiding institutionalism in the Church. At the weekend, the Pope announced that the new feastday will be celebrated on the Monday after Pentecost. According…
Praying in public is of vital importance to the outcome of the referendum on the Eighth Amendment, according to campaigners. “In the battle for life, we have to do the canvasing and everything else, yes, but we are not going to win without prayer because it is very much a spiritual battle,” pro-life advocate Kathy Sinnott told…