Patsy McGarry

Patsy McGarry

Contributor

Patsy McGarry is a contributor to The Irish Times having spent over 25 years as the paper's Religious Affairs Correspondent. He previously reported for Magill magazine, the Irish Press, the Irish Independent and the Sunday Independent. He is the author of First Citizen: Mary McAleese and the Irish Presidency.

Beckett is bleak only to those with no sense of humour

In a Word ... Distress

Called to the church: ‘I broke her heart but I felt I could do more for people by being a priest’

Fr Tiernan Burke, who is 41, is one of just two priests ordained in Maynooth seminary this year

Grandson of Roscommon emigrants and famous Catholic TV host beatified in Missouri

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, who inspired actor Martin Sheen to take his name, became a household name in US through his broadcasts

In a Word ... Population

Within 75 years, the issue worldwide will be depopulation

A sort of homecoming as Trevor Sargent made rector at church close to Leinster House

Former Green Party leader will take over at St Ann’s Church that was a ‘sanctuary’ during his time in politics

I heard some terrific news the other day: ‘The happiest men over 40 are 25lbs overweight’

‘If you’re 61 and you have washboard abs, you’re making a big sacrifice for that’

‘My proposal was to stop Confirmation’: Ireland’s ageing priests under pressure as numbers drop

The decline in numbers joining the priesthood means the prospect of there not being enough priests for funerals and other religious services is very real

Loudon Wainwright’s simple, catchy tune that I always find impossible to shake

In a Word ... Worm

How could God allow human bodily functions?

In a Word ... Body

Church of Ireland seeks to allay concerns about past finances at Dublin parish where newly elected bishop was rector

Church says parish administration ‘suffered’ when Andrew Orr, recently elected as Bishop of Cork, was rector in Castleknock

I once asked Mam why she married my father. She said: ‘I took pity on him’

In a Word ... Birthday

Former IRA man seeks decree lifting excommunication over his 1950s Border mission

Cork man Jimmy Linehan (90) wants the Catholic Church to remove the censures imposed on Irish people ‘since 1169’

Dramatic drop in Catholic baptisms across island of Ireland

Iona Institute says falling birth rates account for about 60 per cent of decline, with secularisation accounting for the remainder

It must be hell to be handsome

A total lack of challenge or effort has to be bad for character

Are Ireland’s melting midlands becoming too hot to handle?

In a Word ... Opportunity

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