Church of England could die out: Anglican bishop
Only 12 per cent of children in the UK are now baptised, and there has also been a collapse in the number of Church weddings, a leading Church of England bishop has warned. And the Church of ....Cork Simon appeals for blankets for homeless
The Simon Community in Cork has issued an appeal for blankets in the city. “We are turning away ten to eleven people a night. The blankets are for them,” Paul Sheehan from Cork Simon told ....Seminarians and novices share challenges in Cambodia
Young women and men training for religious life or the priesthood in Cambodia have realized that they share similar challenges. Recently four seminarians and eight novices training to be nuns ....Focolare summer gathering welcomes founder’s early companion
Among the 200 plus participants at this year’s summer gathering of Focolare will be Graziella de Luca from Rome, one of the first companions of the founder of Focolare, Chiara Lubich, who died ....Sacred Heart Sisters to shut their first Irish convent
The Sisters of the Sacred Heart have announced the closure later this year of their convent in Roscrea.
The order, which is one of Ireland's longest-established educational orders in Ireland, set ....
Climate change endangers Malawi
Rich countries, which produce three quarters of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change, should slash their emissions and provide funds to help poor countries like ....
SPUC wins judicial review case in NI High Court
The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) has won its case in the High Court of Northern Ireland in which the Society sought judicial review of government health department ....
Rise in unmarried births alarming: Iona
The rise in the number of children being born outside marriage has been described as “alarming” by the Iona Institute.
In a statement, Iona Director David Quinn said that the figures were worrying ....
Pope says bones in Vatican basilica are those of St Paul
Two thousand years of tradition and legend have held that the bones of Paul of Tarsus lie in the basilica of St Paul Without The Walls. Now, Pope Benedict XVI says, science has confirmed ....
President meets survivors of instutional abuse
The experiences of those who suffered the abuses outlined in the Ryan report are "monuments to our failure to cherish our children," according to President Mary McAleese.
At a special reception ....
EU is 'Keeping the Sabbath'
Last week YouTube ran a clip of film on a European Parliament initiative which aims to protect, under law, Sunday as a day of rest. Archbishop Lluís Martínez Sistach of Barcelona urges all MEP’s to ....
Pope confers the pallium on 34 metropolitan archbishops
Yesterday, 29th June, at a ceremony during the Mass of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul in St Peter's Basilica, Rome, Pope Benedict conferred the pallium on thirty-four metropolitan ....
Year of Evangelisation begins in Dublin
It has its own song, logo, prayer and office. The Archdiocese Of Dublin Year of Evangelisation is ready to go and starts today, the feast of Sts Peter and Paul.
"The hope of the Year of ....
Big turnout for Limerick Novena
Some 10,000 people have attended this year’s Solemn Novena hosted by Limerick’s Redemptorists last week.
As well as the usual prayers for the sick and the bereaved, prayers for people who are out ....
Nuns counter sex trafficking during international sporting events
A new international network to counter trafficking of women and children for prostitution during two major 2010 world sporting events in South Africa and Canada has been formed by over ....
Internet usage is becoming a significant cause of marital conflict: Accord
Internet gambling, infidelity and spending too much time on the internet, instead of with the family, are the new areas causing marital conflict, as revealed in statistics released by a Catholic ....
Christian concern for fragile earth
The 46th Glenstal Ecumenical Conference A Change of Climate : breaking bread on a fragile earth concluded on Thursday 25th June 2009.
“We take the things of the earth, bread and wine – ‘fruit of ....
British couple tell of delight at "miracle baby"
A British couple who thought their baby daughter had died six weeks into pregnancy have spoken about their joy on learning that their child had survived against the odds.
Neil and Donna Caldwell ....
Government's civil union Bill "deeply flawed": Iona
The Government's Civil Partnerships Bill, published yesterday, reveals “a deeply flawed and poorly thought-out approach to family policy which undermines the special status of marriage,” according ....
RDS awards life membership to Capuchin monk for work with homeless
A Capuchin monk who founded a day care centre for the homeless nearly forty years ago, has been awarded an Honorary Life Membership by the Royal Dublin Society (RDS).
Franciscan Brother Kevin ....
Wexford church closes for refurbishment.
Parishioners in Taghmon, Co. Wexford, are to worship at the village’s Church of Ireland church while their own is closed for the next three months for a major refurbishment.
St. Fintan's Church ....
Ireland to host international conference on Pope's art and architecture
Ireland will host an international conference on church art and architecture in the light of Pope Benedict XVI’s efforts to promote liturgical renewal.
Benedict XVI on Church Art and Architecture ....
Ryan not affecting Mass attendances, says bishop
Bishop Bill Murphy of Kerry has said the number of people attending Mass has not been damaged by the recent revelations in the Ryan report on abuse in residential institutions.
Dr Murphy said ....
Iran protest leader refusing to back down: report
Iranian protest leader Mir Hossein Mousavi (pictured) is refusing to back down from his claim that the election in which he was defeated by hardline candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was ....
Abortion "not a consumer product": English bishops
Abortion is neither medicine nor a consumer product, and TV adverts which present it as such erode respect for human life, according to the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales.
In a submission ....
Urban Soul 2009
Day to day living out of Christianity in the local community is the focus of Urban Soul 2009, which runs from the 7th-10th of July.
Greg Fromholz, who is a co-director on the team organizing ....
Cardinal and bishop mark church centenary
Cardinal Brady and Bishop Michael Smith joined the people of Kinnegad, Co Westmeath, recently for the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the opening of the Church of Assumption.
Parish ....
Pro Life Campaign criticise HSE’s ‘grossly insensitive’ comments
The Pro-Life Campaign has described as “grossly insensitive” the HSE statement issued last Friday to the Daily Mail, which claimed the non-availability of abortion in Ireland was responsible for ....
President commends Council of Europe for its NI peace role
Learning to listen to “the other”, to stand in his or her shoes long enough to get a glimpse of what life looks like from the other side, is key to building up enough traction to move ....
Human rights group concerned about religious minorities in Iran
A human rights organisation has issued a warning that it is concerned for the safety and well being of non-Muslim religious minorities in Iran as violent protests over recent Presidential elections ....
Institutional abuse symptom of Ireland’s socio-political system: abbot
The abbot of Glenstal Abbey, Dom Mark Patrick Hederman, has said that the abuse of children in residential institutions was facilitated by the development of a unique socio-political system in ....
"Toxic legacy" of the housing boom exposed in Jesuit book
The belief about housing for many years was that "the boom could only get boomier", said Kathy Sheridan, Irish Times journalist and co-author with Frank McDonald, of The Builders, as she ....
Catholic channel broadcasts on cable TV in Pakistan
When Fr Morris Jalal visits families and attends church functions in Lahore, he carries a video camera to document the community's life for the first Catholic TV channel in Pakistan.
The ....
First ordination in eight years for diocese
The first ordination in the diocese of Waterford and Lismore has taken place in St. Peter and Paul's Church in Clonmel.
Fr Michael Toomey was ordained by Bishop William Lee who said that while ....
Show of solidarity with Aung San Suu Kyi for 64th birthday
For her 64th birthday on Friday supporters from around the world sent messages of solidarity to imprisoned Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Burmese exile groups had launched a website called ....
Lefebvre priests ordained
Priestly ordinations by an ultraconservative group not in full union with the Church are not legitimate even though Pope Benedict XVI has lifted the excommunications of four of the ....
Put health of young people before alcohol advertising profits: NYCI
A growing body of international evidence shows that alcohol advertising and marketing encourages young people to begin drinking at an earlier age, and to drink more frequently, and more heavily, ....
Smile in adversity
Laugh a Little is the unlikely title of an Oxfam photographic exhibition depicting people in refugee camps in the Congo. Rankin is the unlikely photographer because he is more often snapping ....
Hindu-Catholic dialogue meeting marked by candour as well as cordiality
Hindu and Catholic religious leaders held talks in Mumbai, India, last week. that were marked by candour and cordiality.
A Hindu Nationalist spokesperson said he was pleased that ....
Ireland secures agreement on Lisbon guarantees
Taoiseach Brian Cowen yesterday secured agreement from his EU partners to a legally binding guarantee on the application of the Lisbon Treaty to Ireland, which will be incorporated as a protocol to ....
Pope launches Year of Priests
Pope Benedict launched the Year of Priests at a Vespers ceremony in St Peter's Basilica yesterday evening.
In a letter to priests for the occasion, the Pope said he chose this year as it is the ....
Slain vocations director in Mexico was model of beatitudes
The bishop celebrating the funeral mass of a vocations director murdered last weekend in Mexico, has described him as a “model of living out the beatitudes.”
Bishop Maximino Martinez Miranda ....
Loyalist paramilitaries decommission weapons
Reports suggesting that Loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland are beginning to decommission their weapons have been welcomed by Taoiseach Brian Cowen.
However, speaking yesterday on RTÉ ....
Progress on the revised translation of the Roman Missal
After more than ten years of tension between ICEL (International Commission on English on the Liturgy) and the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the way ....