Catholic Church

Daughter of Vanessa O’Callaghan (36) tells funeral Mass that she cannot believe her mother ‘is gone’

The Irish Times columnist has made a new documentary about his life for RTÉ. Here he looks back on a career that he began as the Michelangelo of Tipp-Ex

Brendan Dowling made a complaint to the Christian Brothers about abuse by one of their members long before criminal cases were taken

Rite & Reason: All Churches face huge challenges moving on from terrible abuses into an advancing secularism

Rite & Reason: Iron grip that Christian denominations have over chaplaincy in Ireland cannot continue

Families who expected a straightforward enrolment process are grappling with the harsh reality of Ireland’s oversubscribed schools

Rite & Reason: One in seven Christians in the world faces persecution or extreme discrimination because of their faith

A man, oblivious to the world, and so at war with the living, screamed and heckled a couple and their daughter

Only two priests have been ordained in capital’s archdiocese since 2020, with none so far this year

Maynooth Community Church is among those bucking the trend of decline in church membership, boosting its congregation with people of faith from overseas

Rite & Reason: Going to church, attending Mass or engaging with the Catholic Church in any meaningful way has always felt, to me, like acting

While being young and female is still no picnic, young men are struggling in multiple ways

At 85, the long-time social campaigner says there’s no such thing as a typical homeless person: ‘every one of them is different, all have their own story, their own background’

Faith used to be a set menu with very limited choices. Perhaps to survive, and to give people what they need, it needs to become a buffet

Vatican commission stresses ‘the importance of compensation for victims/survivors, as a concrete commitment to their healing journey’

Proposals recommend allowing assisted dying in restricted circumstances

There was ‘no effort made to deal with perpetrators’ Dermot Farrell tells US Catholic TV network

Conversations with Parents podcast with Jen Hogan: The writer and TV star on having a one child, needing her mum and à la carte Catholicism

Small Things Like These misses an essential truth about Catholic Ireland

A deeply disturbing and important book which will interest and concern anyone who believes in that blessed trinity of modern democracy – openness, transparency and accountability

Traditionally, the only non-bishops with voting rights were 10 members of male religious orders but Pope Francis has changed that to five men and women religious

Survivors of physical abuse over decades in Irish schools want an apology for what they suffered at the hands of teachers

At a time when school divestment should be ramping up, it seems like boards of management are digging their heels in

Murray resigned in light of Murphy commission report on handling of child sex abuse allegations in Dublin archdiocese from 1975 to 2004

Critics say a requirement to hold a religious certificate in most national schools means many new teachers have to uphold something they don’t believe

Rite & Reason: This month, 368 delegates from around the world are gathering in Rome for the second session of the Catholic Church’s Synod on Synodality

We have a windfall – but the golden apples seem to have fallen on our heads. Our governing culture has lost its great get-out clause: ‘If only we had the money…'

The Catholic Church cannot and should not attempt to compete with a spirituality which is essentially whatever a couple wants it to b

Rite & Reason: Gospel values differ from economic values. In Luke’s Gospel it is said that anyone with two tunics should give one away

Lock of Carlo Acutis’s hair, in black box, brought to event as part of drive to attract more people to religious life

Veteran broadcaster Vincent Browne says’ the most persistent person in holding the Catholic Church to account was Patsy McGarry’

Alone among faith schools, Catholic schools are prevented from prioritising children from families committed to their ethos. The legislation is up for review

Diarmaid MacCulloch’s ambitious book looks at celibacy, marriage, homosexuality and trans issues from the perspective that there is no single consistent view of these in the Bible, Patsy McGarry writes

Church has not ‘come to terms with what was done to thousands upon thousands of innocent and vulnerable people’, says Dermot Farrell

Plus: Irish Catholic podcast believes the pope is a very naughty boy; JP McManus’s road woes; and Ciaran Mullooly’s new adviser in Brussels

New group taking part in new Propaedeutic Programme at several locations across Europe

Role of church in education must change

There are so many practical considerations to choosing a school that go beyond religious ethos

Catholic Church’s influence on Irish life is waning, yet only Israel spends more time on religious education at primary level

Figure significant in context of Government wanting congregations to contribute to compensating those affected by abuse as Department of Education indicates work on redress scheme will take time