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.

A cousin of mine is fond of telling a story from a day in school long ago, when her class was tasked with a question to take home to their parents: what was the most memorable event in their lives?

The death of Michael Hayes, president of Mary Immaculate College (MIC) in Limerick, occurred at the weekend.

Coast Guard, Gardaí and members of the local community have held a candle-lit vigil for the crew of Rescue 116 at the Sundial in Blackrock, Co Louth, this evening.

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.

A former senior dean at St Patrick’s College Maynooth said he has a sense of “déjà vu” when reading of the current culture at the college and that he was “shafted” by his superiors when he raised concerns about complaints made against a vice-president there in the 1980s.

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.

A memorial is to be unveiled next week for babies whose resting place was disturbed when the Diocese of Limerick sold the area known as the Infant’s Plot for adult graves.

The board of management at a secondary school has agreed to allow a first-year student opt out of religious education.

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.

An idea has been floated to raise the age that children make their confirmation.

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.

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.

Claims of ‘trading on the family name’ have been refuted by a TD whose sister has been selected to run for the Local Elections in West Cork.

Because of changes to a number of Co Cork’s electoral areas, there will be casualties among big-name councillors, and they’re more likely to be from Fine Gael, writes Sean O’Riordan

Mourners at the funeral mass of murder victim Tom O’Gorman heard the lay Catholic activist had been taken “all too quickly and all too cruelly”.

A report says €75m is needed to bring the only main road in West Cork up to a reasonable standard — but at the current rate of government investment it will take several generations before this is achieved.

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.

Council officials have been told that people in a flood-plagued town in County Cork can no longer accept delays in plans to remedy the problem.

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.

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.

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.

Islanders off West Cork have been cut adrift by the Government as a junior minister has admitted: “We can’t help you.”

A PRE-ELECTION promise has been fulfilled by a singing county councillor who has launched a CD to raise money for two sick children.

AS flood clean-ups got under way throughout Cork yesterday the ice returned, creating treacherous driving conditions which are likely to feature in the coming days as the cold snap once again takes a grip.

AFTER the freeze, the rain and winds are on the way back.

A 90-YEAR-OLD woman died in a house fire after a candle in her bedroom ignited curtains and foam in a chair.

SINN FÉIN may be poised to make greater gains in the local elections in Co Cork than Labour.

THIS is one constituency where there will definitely be changes of personnel.

A CAR park extension at a major west Cork hospital has jeopardised the future of a vital air ambulance landing pad, it was claimed last night.

THE chief executive of the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC) will retire next week after 14 years at the head of the tourist industry’s principal lobby group.

SPARE a thought for the mothers of the candidates running for the first time in this Friday’s local elections.

IRELAND has bucked the trend by recording a 5% rise in the number of tourists visiting the country in the first half of this year, despite the war on Iraq and the SARS outbreak.

The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation has warned that Ireland’s competitiveness as a tourist destination is being damaged by high inflation.

TOURISM could be heading into a third year of under-performance since it peaked in 2000 when 6.3 million tourists arrived.