Bishop Colm O'Reilly with the choir of St Mary's, Keadue, Co. Roscommon during the church's rededication
    Mass is celebrated on Caher Island, Mayo, on August 15, the annual pilgrimage day to the island
    Bishop Kieran O'Reilly ahead of his ordination to the bishopric of Killaloe on August 29 in Ennis
    Newly- elevated Bishop Kieran O'Reilly of Killaloe after his ordination on August 29 at the Cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul in Ennis
    Bishop Colm O'Reilly with participants at the 2010 Youth Festival at Clonmacnois
    Fr John McCallion is put through his paces by coach Frank Gervin prior to a charity bout in aid of Derrylaughan football club
    Some of the congregation for the annual outdoor Mass at the cemetery in Ardcandrisk, Barntown, Co. Wexford
    Bishop Donal McKeown, author Alice Taylor, and Bishop Philip Boyce at the launch of In Praise of Priests in August
    Participants at the annual Intercession for Priests at All Hallows in Dublin in August
    The Mission Team of the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word (with Bunclody PP Fr Aidan Jones) during its recent parish mission to Ferns

    Top Stories

    The Irish Times `papal talks' story unfounded

    Garry O'Sullivan Editor

    It seemed like an amazing scoop for The Irish Times newspaper last week when it was able to reveal that not only was Dublin's Archbishop Martin still in favour with the Pope but that he had recently had 'exhaustive discussions' with the Pope who backed him fully on his strategy in Dublin. The report was made from Rimini in Italy where Archbishop Martin was giving a speech to a gathering of Communion and Liberation members.

    Those back in Ireland who speculated that Archbishop Martin might have been embarrassed by the Vatican decision not to accept the resignations of his two auxiliary bishops were told by The Irish Times sources that they were out of touch with what was really going on in Italy and the Vatican.

    The problem with this is that Ar...

    Catholic adoption agency may have to close its doors

    Catholic adoption agency may have to close its doors

    The last Catholic adoption agency in England and Wales has lost its legal bid to continue its work free of discrimination legislation.

    Seeking to deal with the requirements of sexual orientation discrimination laws enacted in 2007, Catholic Care, a social care organisation linked with the Diocese of Leeds, had applied to the Charity Commission to have its charitable status altered to allow it continue to offer adoptions, in keeping with Catholic tenets, only to heterosexual couples. However, the bid ended in failure when the commission ruled against the application, leaving Catholic Care victim to the legislation unless it broadens its adoption offers, something it has stated it will not do.

    ''In...
    Fixing the Church - John Morgan

    We all need to take responsibility for the future renewal of the Church, writes John Morgan

    The atrocities perpetrated on children by those commissioned to serve God's people as his ordained ministers have cried out to heaven. They also call for a necessary and profound renewal in the Irish Church imprisoned and paralysed as it is.

    While I am the Chairman of the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC), I am writing here purely as a member of the Catholic Church. But my position has allowed me to learn a little about the damage done and to offer some real proposals for how we might start undoing some of it.

    In...

    Fixing the Church

    Fixing the Church

    We all need to take responsibility for the future renewal of the Church, writes John Morgan in this paper. This responsibility however begins with the individual Christian engaging on a process of daily renewal. Renewing ourselves and our families and our friends is the essence of Christian living and though we fail regularly to attain it, we are called to strive for it.

    In calling for an annual day of reparation in the Irish Church, Mr Morgan raises an inviting prospect. This day would not be a day of guilt for Catholics who were not involved in the cover-up of abuse, but an opportunity for all the Christian community to acknowledge all the hurt felt by those abused by an arrogant clericalist institutional Church, and for those abused in families and...

    Comment

    Clericalism is still alive and well

    Another extraordinary and depressing story of child abuse and cover-up has emerged in the last week, this time from Belgium. The Catholic Church in Belgium, as in other parts of the world, has had its share of scandals and cover-ups.

    These scandals led in June to an extremely heavy-handed raid on Church offices by Belgian police that saw them go to the extreme of drilling holes into the tombs of two deceased prelates so they could insert cameras to search for files related to...

    Comment

    Media strategy still needed

    In his recent address to the movement Communion and Liberation at Rimini in Italy, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin made several interesting comments about the relationship between the Church and media in Ireland today.

    He made a particularly astute observation that there are plenty of people in Ireland ''ready to comment on Church events with little knowledge of the nature of the Church''. As eager as many were to examine his address, there was a noticeable hesitancy to explore this particular comment. Perhaps it cut too close to the bone for many in the secular media. One sometimes gets the impression that a loud opinion is the only prerequisite needed to comment on the Church here in Ireland.

    The archbishop went on to describe as completely inadequate the belief that ''everything will be solved by a simple media strategy''. Diarmuid Martin is right. A media strategy is no panacea. If only our problems were so simple that they could be solved by a better communications policy. I made this point myself in a paper I delivered at a Church communications conference...