Niall O'Dowd: Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, has spoken out on the need for Catholic and Anglican dialogue. That all sounds very reasonable, but Williams is head of the Established Church which stopped at nothing in its day to end Catholicism as we now know it. They made Pope Benedict's efforts to win over Anglicans look like a child's tea party. Today's Anglicans may well be saying why "can't we all get along" but their predecessors were utterly savage in their fury towards Catholics.

Father Francis Markey, 81, an elderly Irish priest based in Indiana, was released from jail on bail on Tuesday pending an extradition hearing later this week.

Ronan Keating says spending the night with Stephen Gately’s body was a “beautiful” experience.

A $2 million dollar study commissioned by Roman Catholic Bishops at the height of the Church’s sexual abuse scandal in the U.S. has found no connection between sexual orientation and abuse of children by clergy.

There are barely enough priests to preach in Dublin's 199 parishes. According to Dublin's Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, “We have 46 priests over 80 and only two less than 35 years of age. In a very short time we will just have the bare number of priests required to have one active priest for each of our 199 parishes."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton played a major role in securing the release of Irish priest Fr. Michael Sinnott. The priest was kidnapped 32 days ago by a radical group of Islamic militants called the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The kidnapped Irish Catholic priest, Fr Michael Sinnott, has been released without injury in the Philippines. Arriving at Manila Airport, the 79-year-old Wexford priest even tried to make light of his experience. "Because I am a bit old and I found hiking a bit difficult at times, I think that they'd be glad to kidnap a younger man the next time," he said.

Niall O'Dowd: "2012," the new blockbuster movie from director Roland Emmerich about the end of the world, is clearly anti-Catholic. It stars Irish-American actor John Cusack, who is obviously along for the payday. | WITH TRAILER

A blistering attack has been launched by the manager of Knock Shrine against thousands of pilgrims who stampeded and left the place “in a terrible state” on Sunday in the hopes of seeing an apparition of the Virgin Mary.

There’s never been a shortage of mystical visionaries in Ireland, or of dramatic, life-changing apparitions for them to gawk at. Some claim to have witnessed the sun dance, the clouds part and the entire Holy Family appear, others simply claim to have seen a holy statue move its head.

Niall O'Dowd: Ted Kennedy Jr. will preside — and Irish tenor Ronan Tynan will sing in his first New York engagement since his controversial firing by the New York Yankees — at a memorial Mass for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.

What does the current commotion at Knock Shrine tell us about Ireland today? Ten thousand people gathered there last weekend form all over Ireland hoping to see the Virgin Mary appear, as she is thought to have done back in

Irish spiritual healer Joe Coleman says the Virgin Mary spoke to him this weekend and revealed that she would appear at Knock on "the fifth day of the holy month." Coleman, from Ballyfermot in Dublin, said the Virgin Mary had asked him not to relay this message immediately.

The Irish Catholic shrine where 10,000 people showed up on Saturday in hopes of seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary also happens to be the spiritual home of singing sensation Susan Boyle.

An Irish journalist has suggested that the original vision in 1879 of the Virgin Mary at Knock was a fake, on the weekend that 10,000 thronged the County Mayo basilica in search of another vision.

More than 10,000 people were left disappointed in Ireland Saturday as the Virgin Mary failed to appear as predicted at Knock Basilica. However, the organizer claims he saw Our Lady and that she revealed a "secret" message.

Up to 50,000 people are predicted to gather at Knock in Ireland today for an apparition by the Virgin Mary. Dubliner Joe Coleman, the man who predicted the apparition said Our Lady would be visible to those "with an open heart."

WITH VIDEO: Tens of thousands of people are traveling to the Knock shrine in Ireland this weekend for a predicted apparition by the Virgin Mary. There is such strong belief in her appearance that people are even placing bets at Irish bookmakers.

Thousands of Irish people claim to have witnessed apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the skies over Knock shrine in Co Mayo. About 5,000 people gathered at the holy Catholic shrine earlier this month amid a local clairvoyant's predictions that an apparition would appear on October 11. They reported that they could see images of the Virgin Mary shimmering in the sky as the sun danced nearby.

An Irish-born Archbishop has been suspended by the Vatican over an allegation that he carried on a 20-year relationship with a woman that began when she was only 14. The archbishop is currently said to be in the U.S. and once served in New Jersey.

His late Dad may have made a peace of sorts with his beloved Catholic Church by admitting to Pope Benedict XVI that "I am not a perfect man," but Sen. Edward Kennedy's youngest son is beating the war drums.

The abductors of Irish priest Father Michael Sinnott have made contact with his Catholic Mission in the Philippines. However, Filipino security chiefs are refusing to reveal details of the call to Sinnot's fellow priest in the nearby city of Ozamis.

Scottish superstar Susan Boyle is channelling her inner Mike Tyson and has taken up boxing to take on Amanda Holden and The Priests! At least, that's my explanation after findng out that Susan's started boxing in her hometown of Blackburn. Susan says she's laced up the boxing gloves to ease the stress and release some tension ahead of the launch of her debut album “I Dreamed a Dream” on November 24.

After receiving the call from God when he was just 16, Christopher Heanue, the youngest child of Irish immigrants based in New York took his first class at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome on Monday, October 12 on the long road to becoming a priest.

Local military in the Philippines are working on cordoning off the area where Irish priest Fr. Michael Sinnott has been seen three times since his abduction at gunpoint on Sunday.

A 78-year-old Irish Catholic priest was kidnapped in the Philippines on Sunday.

Fr. Aengus Finucane, an African aid pioneer and founder of the Third World charity Concern, has died. The 77-year-old passed away in the Spiritan Fathers’ nursing home in Kimmage in Dublin after a short illness.

Niall O'Dowd: What is the difference between Roman Polanski and a Catholic priest child abuser? A Roman collar and an extraordinary media bias, I'd say.

Irish American actor Martin Sheen will go back to his roots with his next movie, "Stella Days." Sheen, who will star as Fr Daniel Barry, will be shooting "Stella Days" in the tiny town of Borrisokane in

Hundreds of people are flocking to a rural shrine in Donegal amidst reports of a weeping statue of Mary and flashing crosses in the night sky.

The father of a Belfast man who was murdered by a Loyalist paramilitary group in 1997 has secured his plea to have a U.S. congressional hearing into his son’s murder next month.

It is 30 years to the day since Pope John Paul II visited Ireland in a three-day visit that brought the country to a standstill. Nearly 3 million people turned out to welcome the Pontiff at five venues; Dublin, Drogheda, Galway, Limerick and Knock. The numbers were phenomenal when you consider that the population of the Republic was 3,368,217 in 1979.

Bono is set to meet Pope Benedict XVI this November. The U2 frontman and humanitarian has been chosen along with over 500 other artists to meet with the Holy Father at the Vatican.

A trio of Irish priests is set to challenge Susan Boyle for the number one Christmas album. Known as "The Priests," Father Martin O'Hagan, his brother Father Eugene and Father David Delargy, began singing together at high school in Northern Ireland.

The name Malone derives from the Gaelic O'Maoileoin meaning follower of St. John. The family originally came from Ballynahown, County Offaly.

Father Tim: This is how great Irish jokes, as well as great children, are born. Roman Catholic couples should pray together before they have sex, says a new book published by a prominent Church group. It invites those setting out on married life to recite the specially-composed "Prayer Before Making Love."

An Irish couple have become a surprise YouTube hit after their wedding was hit by an earthquake in Italy. Ian and Monica Devine were holding their faiytale wedding in Monica's home town of Athina when the church was rocked by an earthquake measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale.

Tony Blair says his wife Cherie made him a Catholic. Speaking in Italy on Sunday, the former British Prime Minister said: "Frankly this all began with my wife.

Senator Edward Kennedy spoke from beyond the grave last night at Arlington national cemetery. Reading from a letter that Kennedy had sent to the Pope in July; Cardinal Theodore McCarrick revealed just how strong Ted Kennedy's Catholic faith was.

"Most Holy Father I asked President Obama to personally hand deliver this letter to you. As a man of deep faith himself, he understands how important my Roman Catholic faith is to me, and I am so deeply grateful to him. I hope this letter finds you in good health."

WITH VIDEO: The Irish priest at Teddy Kennedy’s side as he died says “Teddy wanted to go, he went in peace and it was beautiful.” Monsignor Patrick Tarrant, a native of Cork who has been a priest for 56 years, was called to the Kennedy home on Tuesday evening from the nearby Our Lady of Victory Parish.

The rate of Irish men entering the priesthood in Ireland has doubled, and sources say the jump in vocations could well be down to the recession as men see the priesthood as a secure future.

A prominent Irish priest has called on the Catholic Church to halt recruitment of new priests until they properly address Ireland’s clerical child abuse controversy.

The late conservative columnist and TV host Bob Novak was a highly unlikely convert to Catholicism, but in 1998 the Jewish reporter who died of a brain tumor on Tuesday did just that at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Washington.

An Irish man has been killed in an ambush in Afghanistan. Tragically, Stuart Murray, 40, was on a surprise trip home to see his family in County Derry.

Outraged Irish Catholics are fuming after the Virgin-in-a-Tree was vandalized at St. Mary's Church in Rathkeale, County Limerick, last weekend.

The shock report into clerical child abuse in the Irish capital may be censored, IrishCentral.com has learned. Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has sought advice from the High Court about publishing the report, which was submitted to him on July 21. The report, which was commissioned in 2006, examines how the Dublin Archdiocese managed 46 cases of alleged abuse since 1940.

The surname Curran is common in all four provinces in Ireland, but especially in County Donegal and throughout Ulster. The name is also prevalent in the south of Ireland, appearing many times in the County Tipperary Hearth Money Rolls of 1665-7. Currans showed up frequently as Waterford residents in the census of 1659.

The O'Carrolls go back to the third century King Oilioll Olum of Munster. Their name derives from Cearbhaill, who was the Brian Boru in 1014 at the battle of Clontarf. Cearbhaill means warlike champion and the O'Carrolls have lived up to the name.

The Irish government designated May 17, 2009 as the first National Famine Memorial Day. On that day, Irish people throughout the world remembered and honored the victims of Ireland’s Great Hunger