The Irish Catholic Newspaper

31/07/2026

Mary Kenny says this summer’s “apocalyptic” wildfires may be a warning even climate sceptics cannot ignore — but asks whether people are really willing to live simpler, less wasteful lives.

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My cousins in the Bordeaux region have been told to stay away from their home until these terrible wildfires - and the destruction and poisonous smoke they’ve caused – have receded.Appropriately, the scenes in south-western France, and Spain have been called ‘apocalyptic’. And in this summer...

31/07/2026

Kildare and Leighlin’s new parish structures aim to help communities share resources while protecting local identity, Deacon Patrick Roche says.

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Parish identity must not be lost as dioceses reorganise into larger pastoral areas. the Kildare director of parish development in has said.

31/07/2026

David Quinn says the latest Tuam excavations disrupt the idea that the nuns simply “dumped” children’s bodies, and argues they deserve fairer treatment.

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There are not 800 bodies in a septic tank in the grounds of the old children’s home at Tuam. The nuns did not kill the babies or deliberately neglect them to death. In fact, the nuns ran the home about as well as they could under very difficult circumstances given the poverty of the time and the f...

30/07/2026

Mayo PP Canon Stephen Farragher says he “couldn’t stop crying” after the county’s All-Ireland win, telling parishioners at Monday Mass that “today is different”.

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When the final whistle blew for the All-Ireland final on Sunday, Canon Stephen Farragher “couldn’t stop crying” for over an hour after the game finished.At Monday morning Mass this week Fr Farragher said that “today is different”.

30/07/2026

After 75 years of heartbreak, Mayo’s All-Ireland triumph brought faith and football together, with Knock rector Fr Richard Gibbons saying “everybody was praying for the team.”

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“For 75 years you have prayed to Our Lady of Knock, and today Our Lady of Knock has answered your prayers," said GAA president Jarlath Burns.

30/07/2026

This week in The Irish Catholic: Kildare and Leighlin moves to ease parish identity fears as 56 parishes reorganise into 11 pastoral areas, with more on Mayo’s All-Ireland joy, Catholic Grandparents Sunday and Knock Novena.

Read more: https://www.irishcatholic.com/

29/07/2026

In a distracted age of screens and endless content, Martin Shaw says myths and fairy tales can teach us courage, depth and the movement from self-absorption to service.

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From the moment we reach for our phones in the morning, stories compete for our attention: news blurbs, targeted advertisements, television series, political narratives and the curated lives of strangers. Our difficulty today is not that we lack stories. If anything, perhaps for the first time, we h...

29/07/2026

At San Clemente in Rome, the Irish Dominicans care for a living church built across three layers of history, where visitors can walk from the 12th century down to 1st-century walls.

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There’s no place like the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome, said Fr Paul Lawlor, a native of Tralee, archaeologist and current Rector of the Basilica. “It’s one of the most beautiful and fascinating churches in the world.”

29/07/2026

Bishop Ger Nash has been appointed Bishop of Ossory by Pope Leo XIV. He will now minister simultaneously as Bishop of Ferns and Bishop of Ossory.

Bishop Ger Nash, who was previously appointed as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Ossory in January of this year, has been appointed Bishop of Ossory by Pope Leo XIV. He will now minister simultaneously as Bishop of Ferns and Bishop of Ossory.

29/07/2026

Why are SSPX Masses valid but confessions invalid? Jenna Marie Cooper explains the difference between illicit and invalid sacraments.

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Why is it that when the SSPX says Mass, it’s only illicit, but now going to confession with them would be not only illicit but also invalid?