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I entered the seminary in Dublin in October 1962, just one week before the opening of the Second Vatican Council. The winter of 1962-63 was one of the bleakest in decades, and our seminary was a very cold place in more ways than one. My memory of the seminary is of a building and a Read more
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The Catholic Church in Ireland has been told it must divert itself of 23 primary schools across the country following a survey of parental preferences for more plurality and choice. The bishops in the 23 areas have been given six months to provide detailed proposals on how they plan to divest a school of their Read more
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Two weeks after an official report revealed that the Irish government was deeply involved in the incarceration of women in the Magdalene laundries, Prime Minister Enda Kenny has made an emotional state apology. “By any standards it was a cruel, pitiless Ireland, distinctly lacking in a quality of mercy,” Kenny said, as dozens of former Read more
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As the Irish Parliament prepares to consider a bill to legalise some abortions, the head of the Vatican’s canon law tribunal has said Catholic politicians who support the bill should be refused Communion in the hope of inspiring a “conversion of heart”. “There can be no question that the practice of abortion is among the Read more
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The future leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop-elect Eamon Martin, has been described as “a clean pair of hands” who “does not carry any baggage from the past with him”. Archbishop-elect Martin has been appointed coadjutor archbishop of Armagh, making him the designated successor to Cardinal Sean Brady, who has been under pressure Read more
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Catholic and pro-life leaders have strongly criticised the Irish government for deciding to introduce legislation to legalise abortion in cases where the mother’s life is deemed to be at risk. The Fine Gael-run government’s action follows the death of Savita Halappanavar, an Indian woman who was admitted to a Galway hospital while miscarrying. She reportedly Read more
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A warning from Pope Benedict XVI about lack of faith among Catholics in France has coincided with new research revealing a decline in fervour among Catholics in the United States and a weakening of belief among Catholics in Ireland. Speaking to visiting French bishops, the Pope described ignorance of religion, even “among the Catholic faithful”, Read more
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Ireland contra mundum – or more accurately, mundus contra Hiberniam – seems to be the burden of shrill, not to say lurid headlines circling the globe since Wednesday of last week, when the story broke about the tragic death of a pregnant Indian woman in a Galway hospital on October 28. But the facts surrounding Read more
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While protesters in Ireland and India rally against the Irish abortion law following the death of a Hindu woman who was refused an abortion, Ireland’s Catholic bishops have affirmed that the Catholic Church “has never taught that the life of a child in the womb should be preferred to that of a mother”. The protests Read more
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Fr Oliver Brennan will never forget the morning of August 14, 2010. It was to the beginning of a personal hell that saw him uprooted from the parish community he loved and feeling alienated and unable to exercise his priestly ministry. After decades in the priesthood he now stood accused of abuse. It is a harrowing Read more
