Bishop Brendan Leahy also called for people who aren't immediate family to avoid going to funerals.

Gardaí say a man fell to the ground after “colliding with a vehicle” near the site of the Connemara Gateway Hotel.

Ahead of this weekend’s All-Ireland hurling semi-finals, two villages have been granted a special dispensation to change mass times to avoid a clash with the match.

14-year-old Sean Byrnes, born without use of his lower limbs, was one of thousands who completed the Great Limerick Run, Sunday.

The Diocese of Cork and Ross is facing a priest shortage crisis and some Masses could be replaced by public prayers with no communion in the years ahead.

Churchgoers in the diocese of Limerick expecting their local priest to celebrate Mass next Tuesday will instead have lay people lead the way in daily church ceremonies.

The Bishop of Limerick has described as “moving and inspirational” a gesture by the 11-year-old son of the late Munster rugby star Anthony Foley in asking people to go to Mass and light candles over the next eight Sunday’s for their own deceased loved ones.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today

They’ve taken plenty of hits over the years, so it takes something seismic to make big men falter in their step. It seems that moment came yesterday, writes Noel Baker of the Irish Examiner.

Galway has been awarded the title of European Capital of Culture for 2020, beating off Limerick and the Three Sisters cities of Kilkenny, Waterford, and Wexford.

The Bishop of Limerick has urged the State, the Church, and groups around the country to work together in order to play a more meaningful role in the current migration crisis in Europe.

Civil partnership does not go far enough in fully recognising the love of gay and lesbian people, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said.

The Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy has suggested the sacrament of Confirmation be taken out of primary schools and not administered until pupils reach 16 years of age.

A homeless man has died in the home of a Limerick priest who had given him refuge.

The church of tomorrow must be inclusive and regenerated by us all, Limerick Bishop Brendan Leahy said as the first synod in Ireland in 50 years was launched.

Despite a 2,000-strong petition by parishioners, a Limerick priest is to be transferred to another parish.

A special Secret Service mission ordered by John F Kennedy involved a search for a precious heirloom from the old family homestead in Bruff, it was recalled yesterday in the Co Limerick town.

The Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy has praised sisters April and Lisa Collins for breaking gangland rules of silence at the trial of John Dundon, leading to his conviction for the murder of rugby player Shane Geoghegan.

Another of the unfortunate legacies — what a long, well-polished list that is — of our nation’s time as a colony is a visceral distaste for “informers”. That, however, did not prevent a great number of our countrymen or women being just that.

A mansion in Co Limerick with a private lake has sold for nearly €2m less than its asking price three years ago.

He quotes Bono, goes to the gym, and listens to Spin FM. Roisin Burke meets Limerick’s top cleric

The Catholic hierarchy will not mount a legal challenge to the Government’s planned legislation on abortion.

A senior Catholic cleric has told a vigil for expectant mothers that abortion can never be justified.

People clinging to Catholic beliefs by their fingernails have been told to look to Bono for hope.

The new Bishop of Limerick, Fr Brendan Leahy, who will be ordained at St John’s Cathedral next Sunday, plans to follow in the footsteps of Pope Francis... in the kitchen.

A Dublin-born theologian, named yesterday by Pope Benedict as the next Bishop of Limerick, said he prayed at “this delicate time” that politicians would be inspired to know how best to protect the lives of mothers and their unborn children.

In a historic ceremony last night, the first female Church of Ireland Dean of Limerick and Ardfert was installed at St Mary’s Cathedral in Limerick.

Heartbroken Gaelic football manager Mickey Harte was profoundly moved today during an emotional gathering with the Dalai Lama, he revealed.

POPE Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of the Bishop of Clogher, Dr Joseph Duffy, who, as Church law dictates, is stepping down having reached the age of 75.

POPE BENEDICT XVI has accepted the resignation of a third Irish bishop as a result of the Church’s handling of clerical child abuse.

Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of a third Irish bishop over the Catholic hierarchy’s handling of clerical child abuse, the Church confirmed today.

The drip-feeding of disclosures needs to stop and a national inquiry launched, campaigners said tonight after another Irish bishop apologised for failing to deal properly with abuse allegations against a priest.

A Vatican meeting between Irish bishops and Pope Benedict XVI will enter its second day today with the past handling of child abuse scandals top of the agenda.

The authorities are paralysed to bring paedophile priests and the senior clerics who covered up decades of horrific abuse to justice, victims have claimed today.

A Vatican meeting between Irish bishops and Pope Benedict XVI gets under way today with the past handling of child abuse scandals on the agenda.

Survivors of clerical abuse tonight demanded leadership and accountability from Pope Benedict as bishops prepared for a major Vatican summit over the devastating scandals.

Catholic bishops gathered for an extraordinary general meeting today in the wake of the damning report into clerical child sex abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.

Irish bishops have been hauled before Vatican chiefs in the wake of devastating child abuse scandals, it was revealed today.

A LEADING theologian who called for all bishops named in the Murphy report to resign has backtracked, insisting the Bishop of Galway should not be forced from his post.

The last of five bishops named in an expose of the Catholic Church’s cover-up of child sex abuse will not resign, his spokesman said tonight.

Two more Bishops have resigned in the wake of the damning Murphy report.

There is increasing pressure on the three remaining Bishops named in the Murphy report to resign.

PRESSURE is mounting on three serving bishops named in the Murphy report to step down from office after Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin James Moriarty announced he had offered his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI.

The Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin James Moriarty has offered his resignation to the Pope today.

There is speculation today that a second bishop criticised in the Murphy report is about to resign.

A BATTLE-WEARY Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan has said he will not be resigning his post unless he can no longer “be a source of unity” in the diocese.

Primary Schools Principals are today calling for the bishops named in the Murphy report to resign their positions as school patrons.