Polish bishops break ranks over abuse commission reset

Two Polish bishops broke ranks Tuesday after the bishops’ conference announced changes to plans to establish a national independent abuse commission.

Bishop Artur Ważny of Sosnowiec and Kraków auxiliary Bishop Damian Muskus distanced themselves June 17 from the decision to overhaul the team leading the project, made at the bishops’ plenary meeting in Katowice last week.

Archbishop Wojciech Polak, the Polish bishops’ point man on abuse, will no longer oversee the initiative, which was first announced in March 2023 but has made little progress due to disagreements among the bishops over the commission’s nature, scope, and financing.

Abuse survivor advocates sharply criticized the announcement, which has prompted protests in which lay people reportedly leave stones inscribed with biblical quotations in front of curia buildings.

Ważny, who created Poland’s first diocesan independent abuse commission in 2024, told the Catholic weekly magazine Gość Niedzielny he was “surprised, bitter, and sad” at the bishops’ change of course on the independent commission.

He said that after taking part in a landmark meeting between Polish bishops and abuse survivors in November 2024, he hoped the commission would be established by the end of 2025. 

But he said it became clear at a bishops’ plenary meeting in March this year that this was unrealistic.

“Establishing such a commission is not that easy. The examples of France or other countries are not entirely adequate,” he said.

“I myself established a similar commission with a slightly larger area of ​​activity and I know that it requires time and attention to many legal, disciplinary, moral, and social aspects.”

He added: “Unfortunately, expectations are high and understandably so. The perseverance of many, especially the victims in many cases, has already ended. All the more so because we had hoped that we were already close.”

“For me, the matter of setting up a commission really seemed like a matter of months. Given the experience in my diocese and the work that the appointed commissions do, I know that this is the only way to stand in the truth, to face the darkness of evil, and to try at least to make amends for the suffering of the victims and to prepare solutions for the future.”

In a June 17 social media post, Kraków auxiliary Bishop Damian Muskus also expressed disappointment at the change.

In a message entitled “I still believe,” Muskus noted that he did not attend the June 10-12 plenary meeting in Katowice, where the change was approved. But he said that, nevertheless, he could not “escape the burden of responsibility for the decisions made in Katowice.”

“I still believe that the process that has begun cannot be stopped, and that sooner or later a commission will be established that will present and describe the phenomenon of the abuse of minors by clergy,” he wrote.

“Today, all I can do is assure my closeness to those whose faith in the efficient establishment of the commission has been seriously shaken.”

In March 2023, amid rising abuse claims, the Polish bishops unanimously decided to create a team, led by Archbishop Polak, to draw up a blueprint for an independent abuse commission. 

The decision followed a controversial documentary alleging Pope John Paul II covered up abuse during his tenure as Archbishop of Kraków (1964-1978).

The proposed commission would examine state and Church archives, considering legal, historical, and sociocultural contexts, following similar initiatives in France, Germany, Portugal, and Spain. 

In June 2023, the bishops voted to establish the commission, focusing on the period from 1945 to its creation.

In May 2024, clerical abuse survivors urged the bishops’ conference to set a precise launch date for the commission, leading to the meeting between survivors and bishops in November 2024.

But in February 2025, the bishops’ legal council issued a critical opinion on the commission’s draft operating principles, questioning the legitimacy of the June 2023 vote due to procedural issues, such as the lack of prior notice and a written resolution. 

The council also raised concerns about the commission’s investigative nature, its potential to question bishops, and its possible conflict with Vatican authority over senior churchmen.

Despite these objections, Archbishop Polak emphasized that the legal council’s opinion was non-binding and rejected claims that the commission would interrogate bishops.

At a March 2025 plenary assembly in Warsaw, the bishops reaffirmed the necessity of the commission, stressing its historical and interdisciplinary focus. 

They called for further consultations with male and female religious bodies to refine the draft principles.

At a June plenary meeting, the bishops decided that the project would be entrusted to Bishop Sławomir Oder, a canon lawyer best known for serving as the postulator of Pope John Paul II’s canonization cause.

They thanked Polak and his team of experts, which they said had “completed its activity.”

Former senior priest admits repeated abuse of boy more than 40 years ago

A former senior Catholic priest has admitted the repeated abuse of a boy more than 40 years ago.

Thomas Millar preyed on the then-teenager who only felt able to bravely report his ordeal to first his wife in 2021 then later to the police.

Millar had by this time been given the title Monsignor due to the high esteem he was held in by the church.

But, his past came back to haunt him when the victim’s wife sent him a text confronting him about the abuse.

Millar soon confessed to his bishop: “It is true.”

The now 71-year-old – who has since resigned in shame from the Catholic Church – appeared in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday.

He pleaded guilty to the repeated indecent assault of the victim between 1981 and 1984.

Millar, of Hamilton, Lanarkshire, had been on bail, but was remanded in custody by judge Lady Hood.

He will be sentenced next month.

Millar had been parish priest at different chapels in Lanarkshire at the time of the attacks.

He first struck when the boy was in his mId-teens at a sports centre in Baillieston, Glasgow.

He molested the victim after he had finished a game of badminton.

Prosecutor Michael Macintosh said: “He was shocked and did not know how to react.

“He did not disclose what had happened, but knew that it had been wrong.”

Millar pounced while the boy had been sleeping at the priest’s parish house.

A further five or six attacks occurred also on church property.

Millar lured the boy having told the teenager’s mum that he “needed assistance”.

The court heard more abuse took place in Millar’s car including near Strathclyde Park.

There was another incident after the boy got into trouble for drinking at a school disco.

His mum took him to Millar in the hope he could “offer him some guidance”.

Instead, the priest went on to molest the youngster again.

Mr Macintosh told the court: “The (victim) did not want any of these incidences of sexual contact to happen, but that he did not know how to tell him to stop.”

After Millar moved church, the abuse escalated to the extent it felt like the “norm” for the teenager.

The advocate depute: “He reports that he felt afraid that his parents would be ashamed of him if they were to know what was happening.”

The final attack occurred in Millar’s private living room.

He then drove the distressed boy home. The victim told Millar if he contacted him again he would report what happened.

Mr Macintosh then explained: “He told nobody for several decades, first disclosing to his wife in October 2021.

“This prompted her to send a text message to Millar challenging him about the abuse.

“Millar contacted his bishop (that month) and advised him that he had ‘bad news’.

“He told the bishop about the text message and he stated: ‘It’s true’.”

The victim first contacted the Catholic Church, but did not go to the police until late 2023.

Millar was arrested in February 2024.

Sarah Livingstone, defending, said Millar had latterly held a “senior role” in Birmingham, but had since resigned.

The advocate: “He accepts his culpability and the effect that it had on the victim.

“There are details which he cannot remember – whether that is a coping mechanism or the passage of time – but he is prepared to accept the account given by the victim.

“Without his admission, there would be no case and that is an example of the remorse he has displayed.”

Millar was put on the sex offender’s list meantime.

Galway monastery has been voted Ireland's favourite new building of 2025

THE BENEDICTINE MONASTERY at Kylemore Abbey in Co Galway has won the ‘Public Choice’ award at the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) Architecture Awards.

The institute said 14,000 votes were cast in total, with the monastery emerging as the winner. 

The Kylemore building was designed by Axo Architects for The Kylemore Trust. 

It is located on the edge of Pollacappul Lough, beneath the Duchruach Mountain and near the historic Kylemore Abbey. 

RIAI president Seán Mahon said the winning entry “demonstrates a deep understanding of heritage, landscape, and community, creating a space that feels both grounded in tradition and relevant to the present”.

“We are thrilled to see the public recognise and celebrate architecture that enriches lives and contributes meaningfully to a much loved natural landscape and environment,” he said. 

Challenge to Islamic centre board strongly disputed, court hears

A High Court challenge to a change in membership of the board of the company running the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland is being strongly disputed, a judge has been told.

A dispute over control of the Al Maktoum Foundation CLG, which owns the centre in Clonskeagh, Dublin, reached the court last month when Mr Justice Brian Cregan was told it had arisen out of the alleged unlawful appointment of new directors to the foundation company.

The court previously heard that the mosque and school at the centre have closed.

Dr Abdel Basset Elsayed, a Meath-based medical consultant who says he has been a director of the company since 2012, brought the challenge claiming the purported appointments of four new directors was invalid and did not follow the requirements of the company's constitution.

He sought orders from the court requiring the Companies Registration Office (CRO) to rectify its register by removing the allegedly unlawfully appointed members and restraining the new directors from performing any duties or representing themselves as directors of the company.

The other directors are notice parties in the case.

On Wednesday, when the case returned before the court, Lyndon MacCann SC, for the Al Maktoum Foundation, said Dr Elsayed purports to be a director, but counsel said his side says he is not.

Counsel said his instructing solicitors "have at all times" been the solicitors for the company, and he was instructed by people who say they are the directors, and they will be resisting Dr Elsayed's applications.

Mr MacCann said he wanted time to reply to a new application for an injunction seeking to prevent the company from acting pending determination of the dispute. His side was also disputing that Joseph Sallabi BL, who told the court he has a contract as in-house counsel with the Al Maktoum Foundation, was in fact in-house counsel.

They were also saying that, even if they accepted Dr Elsayed was a director, which they say he is not, he had called a board meeting without notice to the other directors, counsel said.

Mr MacCann said as a lot of his deponents are based in the United Arab Emirates, he would need at least two weeks to put in a response to the latest application.

Mr Justice Cregan said it appeared to be a matter of some urgency as the mosque and school are closed. Mr Sallabi agreed it was a matter of some urgency.

The judge adjourned the case to next month.

CW Investigates : Operation Truailliu (4)

Bishop McKeown,

I am writing this email on behalf of my family, myself and many other families.  

I have attached a link to a report published last Friday by the BBC.

It refers to people walking on graves at the location in Derry of the burial site of the late Sr. Clare. 

In this report you stated and I quote "All Graves are Sacred and every Family should have the Right to pay their Respects"

Your statement has caused great anger due to the fact I personally and others contacted your Office previously by email and phone to ask for your help to stop our family graves both leased and poor ground being desecrated by fourteen tonne diggers in Milltown Cemetery, Belfast.

Burial land that was treated as a landfill dump for years then sold to the Ulster Wildlife Trust, Bog Meadows. 

A portion returned with written apologies to families including mine from the late Noel Treanor. 

Promising this land would remain untouched. 

A promise he later refused to honour when I spoke to him personally in Brussells days before his passing.

A large portion of this land is now sold as ew graves and the majority of the rest desecrated to be resold as new graves, many with living relatives. 

There has been no new graves in Milltown Cemetery from the 1980's when it was due to close.

The Diocese of Down and Connor have been ravaging graves all over this cemetery, many graves already sold into the Roman Catholic Community as new graves, not just walked over.

Not only did we as families contact your Office, we contacted every Bishop and Archbishop in Northern Ireland and including the Apostolic Nuncio of Ireland.

The result was to just ignore families while there is potentially millions to be made at the expense of the health and wellbeing of the Roman Catholic Community and the destruction of the graves of the Poorest of the Poor " Sacred Graves". 

Many buried in this flooded bog land from Institutions ran by the Roman Catholic Church. 

Each one with their own story and some from the City of Derry.

We as families will continue to work together to protect this burial ground and expose the wrongs that has been inflicted on our families and community by the Roman Catholic Clergy.

I personally have contacted the BBC in relation to your Statement. 

And on behalf of my family and others, you all should be ashamed to your souls.

Mary, Queen of Saints Parish churchgoers question why priest is being moved

A priest in Beaver County is being removed from his parish, and hundreds of people are demanding answers from the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. 

Father Canice McMullen is leaving Mary, Queen of Saints Parish in Aliquippa on July 1, the diocese announced on Tuesday. 

"His transfer is the result of several conversations with Father Canice regarding personal personnel matters," a post on Facebook from the diocese said.

"I cried," parishioner Emilie Hovanec Kisan said. "It's unjust, it's not right. It's time for us to fight and stand up for this. It's horrible."

She is one of many parishioners fighting to keep their beloved priest from leaving. 

"He's relatable," Hovanec Kisan said. "He has done nothing but revitalize our parish, revitalize the community, and our area."

According to the diocese, McMullen is being reassigned to Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe. No one will comment on the specific reason for the move, though Hovanec Kisan has a guess. 

"He was removed because a small group of individuals, who are upset and did not agree with his practices, complained week after week after week," she said. 

Hovanec Kisan is taking to social media to spread her message, and more than 1,700 people have signed an online petition as of Tuesday night. 

"It's to one, reinstate Father Canice and keep him at our Mary, Queen of Saints Parish," she said. "Or two, we need Bishop Zubik and Abbot Martin to come to our parish and address us parishioners and have a transparent conversation."

The diocese says newly-ordained Revered Dilbert Heater will take over. There's a farewell gathering scheduled for McMullen at Saint Titus Church on Sunday.

Catholic priest accused of child sex assault arrested in Los Osos

A Catholic priest was arrested last week in Los Osos, accused of the aggravated sexual assault of a minor.

According to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office, in August 2024, detectives received a report of child abuse that first occurred more than 30 years ago.

Sheriff’s officials say the alleged victims, who came forward with the report, were under the age of 14 at the time. 

Investigators say the boys were living in Mexico, where their family befriended a Catholic priest, identified as Theodore Edward Gabrielli.

Detectives say Gabrielli was allowed to take the boys with him on trips across California, including to his parents’ home in Los Osos, where the victims claim Gabrielli would sexually assault them. 

The alleged abuse continued for about eight years, according to the sheriff’s office.

Gabrielli, now 61, was arrested on June 12 and is being held at the San Luis Obispo County Jail without bail.

Gabrielli has reportedly worked at churches and schools in San Jose, Los Gatos and Los Angeles.

According to the Diocese of San Diego’s website, as of March 2025, he was assigned as associate pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in San Diego.

KSBY News has reached out to the Diocese of San Diego for comment but has not yet received a response.

The sheriff’s office is asking anyone with additional information about this case or other potential victims to contact detectives at (805) 781-4500. 

To make an anonymous tip, contact Crime Stoppers at (805) 549-STOP.

UK MPs vote in favour of measures to decriminalise abortion for women

UK MPs have voted in favour of measures to decriminalise women terminating their own pregnancies.

Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi’s amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill was supported, with MPs voting 379 to 137, majority 242.

The Gower MP said it will remove the threat of “investigation, arrest, prosecution or imprisonment” of any woman who acts in relation to her own pregnancy.

She told MPs she had been moved to advocate for a change in the law having seen women investigated by police over suspected illegal abortions.

During the Bill’s report stage, Ms Antoniazzi assured her colleagues the current 24-week limit would remain, abortions would still require the approval and signatures of two doctors, and that healthcare professionals “acting outside the law and abusive partners using violence or poisoning to end a pregnancy would still be criminalised, as they are now”.

On issues such as abortion, MPs usually have free votes, meaning they take their own view rather than deciding along party lines.

British ustice minister Alex Davies-Jones said the UK government is neutral on decriminalisation and that it is an issue for Parliament to decide upon in a Westminster Hall debate earlier this month.

Winding up for the UK government after Tuesday’s debate, Ms Davies-Jones suggested ministers would work to ensure the law change was workable if MPs voted for it.

She told the Commons: “If it is the will of Parliament that the law should change, the Government in fulfilling its duty to ensure that the legislation is legally robust and workable will work closely with my honourable friends to ensure that their amendments accurately reflect their intentions and the will of Parliament, and are coherent with the statute book.”

Though the UK government took a neutral stance on the vote, several high-profile cabinet ministers were among the MPs who backed the amendment in the free vote.

They included energy secretary Ed Miliband, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden, work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall, defence secretary John Healey, transport secretary Heidi Alexander, environment secretary Steve Reed, Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn, Scotland secretary Ian Murray, Wales secretary Jo Stevens, and Commons leader Lucy Powell.

Abortion in England and Wales currently remains a criminal offence but is legal with an authorised provider up to 24 weeks, with very limited circumstances allowing one after this time, such as when the mother’s life is at risk or the child would be born with a severe disability.

It is also legal to take prescribed medication at home if a woman is less than 10 weeks pregnant.

Efforts to change the law to protect women from prosecution follow repeated calls to repeal sections of the 19th-century law the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, after abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland in 2019.

The measures to decriminalise abortion still need to complete their legislative journey through both the Commons and the Lords before they can become law.

The step was welcomed by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS).

Heidi Stewart, chief executive of the charity, said: “This is a landmark moment for women’s rights in this country and the most significant change to our abortion law since the 1967 Abortion Act was passed.

“There will be no more women investigated after enduring a miscarriage, no more women dragged from their hospital beds to the back of a police van, no more women separated from their children because of our archaic abortion law.”

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) said it was “horrified” by the vote.

Alithea Williams, of SPUC, said: “If this clause becomes law, a woman who aborts her baby at any point in pregnancy, even moments before birth, would not be committing a criminal offence.”

She added: “Our already liberal abortion law allows an estimated 300,000 babies a year to be killed. Now, even the very limited protection afforded by the law is being stripped away.”

Pope Leo calls for hope for those ‘locked in a dead end’

In his Wednesday Audience, Pope Leo XIV urged people not to lose hope, even if they “feel ‘stuck’ and locked in a dead end.”

“Sometimes it seems to us that it is useless to continue to hope; We become resigned and no longer want to fight,” he said.

Speaking in St. Peter’s Square on June 18, the pope was reflecting on the story of the paralytic man meeting Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of John.

“Jesus goes to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. He does not go to the Temple immediately; instead, he stops at a door, where the sheep were probably washed and then offered in sacrifices,” the pope explained.

“Near this door, there were also many sick people who, unlike the sheep, were excluded from the Temple because they were considered impure! And then it is Jesus himself who reaches them in their pain. These people hoped for a miracle that could change their fate; In fact, next to the door there was a swimming pool, whose waters were considered thaumaturgic, that is, capable of healing – fin some moments the water was agitated and, according to the belief of the time, whoever dived first was healed,” he continued.

Leo said a sort of “war between the poor” was created in this scenario, adding, “we can imagine the sad scene of these sick people who dragged themselves laboriously to enter the pool.”

“Jesus is specifically addressing a man who has been paralyzed for thirty-eight years. He is now resigned, because he is never able to immerse himself in the pool when the water is agitated. In fact, what paralyzes us, many times, is precisely disappointment. We feel discouraged and risk falling into sloth,” the pope said.

He notes that Jesus asks this paralytic, “Do you want to be healed?”

Leo said this was a necessary question because, “when you have been blocked for so many years, the will to heal can also fail. Sometimes we prefer to remain sick, forcing others to take care of us.”

“It is sometimes also an excuse not to decide what to do with our lives. Jesus, on the other hand, refers this man to his truest and deepest desire,” the pope explains.

The pontiff says the man responds in a way that reveals his vision of life.

“First of all, he says that he has no one to immerse him in the pool: The fault is therefore not his, but that of the others who do not take care of him. This attitude becomes the pretext to avoid assuming one’s responsibilities. But is it really true that he had no one to help him?” Leo says.

He then brings up a statement from St. Augustine: “Yes, to be healed he absolutely needed a man, but a man who was also God. […] Therefore the man who was necessary has come; Why postpone healing any longer?”4

The pope says the paralytic adds that when he tries to dive into the pool there is always someone who arrives before him.

“This man is expressing a fatalistic view of life. We think that things happen to us because we are not lucky, because fate is against us. This man is discouraged. He feels defeated in the struggle of life,” the pontiff says.

“Jesus, on the other hand, helps him to discover that his life is also in his hands. He invites him to get up, to rise from his chronic situation, and to take up his stretcher. That bed should not be left or thrown away: it represents his past of illness; it is his story. Until that moment the past has blocked him; forced him to lie down like a dead man. Now he is the one who can take that stretcher and take it wherever he wants: He can decide what to do with his story! It is about walking, taking responsibility for choosing which path to take. And this is thanks to Jesus!” Leo says.

“Dear brothers and sisters, let us ask the Lord for the gift of understanding where our lives have stopped. Let’s try to give voice to our desire to heal. And let us pray for all those who feel paralyzed, who see no way out. Let us ask to return to dwell in the Heart of Christ which is the true house of mercy,” he adds.

At the end of the Audience, he said “the heart of the Church is torn by the cries that rise from the places of war,” and particularly pointed out Ukraine, Iran, Israel, Gaza.

“We must not get used to war! On the contrary, the fascination with powerful and sophisticated armaments must be rejected as a temptation. In fact, since in today’s war ‘scientific weapons of all kinds are used, its atrocity threatens to lead the combatants to a barbarism far superior to that of former times’ [quoting Vatican II.]Therefore, in the name of human dignity and international law, I repeat to those responsible what Pope Francis used to say: war is always a defeat! And with Pius XII: ‘Nothing is lost with peace. Everything can be with war’,” Leo said.

During the audience, the pope also gave a special greeting goes to the members of the “HOPE80” international delegation at the start of the “Flame of Hope” pilgrimage as they seek to promote reconciliation and peace in the year marking the 80thanniversary of the end of the Second World War.

“May the light of Divine love and fraternity always burn brightly in the hearts of the men and women of our one human family,” Leo said.

Archbishop of Armagh denounces ‘crude racism’ of Northern Ireland rioters

PROTESTS in Northern Ireland last week were condemned by the Archbishop of Armagh, the Rt Revd John McDowell, as “a source of great shame”.

On Monday, the police said that 64 police officers had been injured over the course of four nights. Twenty-nine arrests were made, of whom 21 people were charged. The police described the attacks as “racist thuggery, pure and simple”.

In an statement released last Friday, Archbishop McDowell described the “scenes of violence” as “hiding behind the figment of ‘legitimate concerns’ but in fact motivated by crude racism”.

He said: “Groups of young men (and the shadowy and unaccountable people who control them) planned and carried out attacks on civil society and on democracy. The damage they have caused is not just material; it cannot be simply swept away.

“As disciples of Jesus Christ, called to respect the dignity of every person made in the image and likeness of God, we should put ourselves in the shoes of someone trapped inside a house or a hostel while an angry mob gathers outside. It must be utterly terrifying. Imagine the lasting impact of such terror on a child.”

The violence began in Ballymena in County Antrim, and soon spread to other places, including Larne, Coleraine, Belfast, and Portadown, where the police had to deploy water cannon.

The origin of the unrest was the court appearance in Coleraine Magistrates’ Court of two teenage boys accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Ballymena. They spoke in Romanian through an interpreter. 

Later that day, a peaceful protest over the alleged assault in the town turned to violence.

Businesses were damaged as doors and windows were smashed. It is understood that houses where immigrant families are staying were targeted. Six homes were attacked as bricks, fireworks, and petrol bombs were thrown.

“It is only by the grace of God, and by the actions of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the fire service last night, that we are not looking at something more serious,” Sian Mulholland, the Northern Ireland Assembly member for North Antrim, said in Stormont the next day.

Archbishop McDowell said: “The people who are the target of such squalid protests have come to this country to make a new life and to make a living. Just as we would rightly refuse to be judged by the criminal actions of any individual who happens to be from the same nationality or ethnicity as us, so we should question those who do so of others.

“I have also a legitimate concern that the scapegoating of people whose skin is a different colour, who speak different languages, or who practice a different faith, will allow policymakers to continue to ignore the actual, deep-seated problems which make Northern Ireland a place of low productivity and social and political unease.

“Above all, I have a concern that speaking about other people and cultures in sub-human and certainly sub-Christian terms, and acting towards them as though they are in some way inferior to me, will deaden my soul to the love of the God of all nations, whose Son allowed himself to be bowed to the ground to bring an end once and for all to every ethnic division.”

The MP for North Antrim, Jim Allister, referred to “unfettered immigration” leading to “significant demographic change in the area”. 

A report published by the Northern Ireland Assembly this year estimated a net international migration total of 62,000 people over the period 2001-23. 

The majority of people have come from Ireland, Poland, and Romania, it said; only 3.5 per cent of the Northern Ireland population come from an ethnic minority (England and Wales have a figure of 18 per cent).

The number of international migrants into the the mid- and east-Antrim council area over the past two decades, according to the Assembly research, was 4900. 

Its population at the last census in 2021 was just under 139,000 people.

Pope asks Italian bishops to proclaim the Gospel, teach peace

Finding more effective ways to proclaim the Gospel, educate for peace, defend human dignity and promote dialogue are key challenges to living the faith and building the kingdom of God today, Pope Leo XIV said.

“Look to the future with serenity and do not be afraid of making courageous choices,” the pope told some 200 Italian bishops June 17 during a meeting in the Hall of Blessings at the Vatican.

“No one can prevent you from staying close to the people, from sharing their lives, from walking with the least (and) from serving the poor,” the pope said. “No one can stop you from proclaiming the Gospel, and it is the Gospel we are called to bring because it is this that everyone — ourselves first of all — needs to live well and to be happy.”

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, president of the Italian bishops’ conference, told Pope Leo that “it has been and is our commitment to give an accounting of the hope that is in us, to be a welcoming church, close to the expectations of many, of all, particularly the poor.”

Pope Leo told the bishops, “Proclaiming the Gospel, peace, human dignity, dialogue: These are the coordinates through which you can be church that embodies the Gospel and is a sign of the kingdom of God.”

To do so effectively, he said, Christ must be at the center of their lives and their outreach as they try to address confusion, a distancing from the church and other challenges “related to secularism, a certain disaffection with the faith and the demographic crisis.”

Responding effectively, he said, requires “discerning ways to bring the Good News to everyone with pastoral action capable of reaching those who are most distant and doing so with suitable tools for renewing catechesis and the language of proclamation.”

Peace “is a humble path, made up of daily gestures,” pope tells Italian bishops

Following Jesus also means developing “a pastoral focus on the theme of peace,” Pope Leo told the bishops. “Indeed, the Lord sends us into the world to bring his same gift: ‘Peace be with you,’ and to become its creators in everyday life.”

Anywhere that “human and social relationships become difficult and conflict takes shape, perhaps subtly, a church capable of reconciliation must make herself visible,” the pope said, encouraging every diocese to “promote pathways of education in nonviolence,” mediation initiatives in local conflicts, and “projects that transform fear of the other into an opportunity for encounter.”

“Peace is not a spiritual utopia,” Pope Leo said. Rather, “it is a humble path, made up of daily gestures that interweave patience and courage, listening and action, and which demand today more than ever our vigilant and generative presence.”

Believing and living as Christians also means defending human dignity whenever it is attacked, the pope said.

“Artificial intelligence, biotechnologies, data economy and social media are profoundly transforming our perception and our experience of life,” he said. “In this scenario, human dignity risks becoming diminished or forgotten, substituted by functions, automatism, simulations.”

“But the person is not a system of algorithms: he or she is a creature, relationship, mystery,” Pope Leo said. “Without lively reflection on the human being — in his or her corporeality, vulnerability, thirst for the infinite and capacity for bonding — ethics is reduced to a code and faith risks becoming disembodied.”

Clerical reshuffle announced for parishes across Diocese of Limerick

BISHOP of Limerick Brendan Leahy has said that the Church locally is progressing on a “trinity of positive change” as it prepares for a future without priests across many parishes.

Announcing this year’s round of clergy changes, Bishop Leahy said that change itself can be challenging but we must embrace it as a positive as it heralds a new and a more missionary way for the church. 

Bishop Leahy added that the very fact that the clergy changes themselves will, for the foreseeable future, not involve the appointment of a priest to just a single parish, reflects the new order.

The approach going forward, he said, to addressing the challenge of lack of vocations to priesthood is a trinity of promoting vocations themselves, which will involve engaging more with young people; bringing priests in from other nations; and reorganising parishes and pastoral units with far more lay responsibility in parishes and lay-led liturgies.

“Clergy changes have, by and large, always been a challenge but in the past the challenge was moving a priest to a new parish, which was never easy for the parish he was leaving or for the priest himself as people get accustomed and comfortable with their priest.

“But the clergy changes now are more difficult as we simply don’t have the numbers of priests that we had in the past to go around. In fact, if you look down the list of changes in dioceses across Ireland, you will find very few that will involve a priest being appointed to single parishes,” he said.

Addressing the fall in vocations, Bishop Leahy said: “Our approach to the shortage of vocations to priesthood has three elements merging into one approach, a trinity of positive change as it were.

“One is that we have to go out and promote vocations and we have good news this year in that we have one seminarian commencing his studies and we are very grateful for that. But we need more. This first step also involves greater outreach to young people across the Diocese and we are embarking on this.

“A second one is to bring priests in from other nations. At the moment we have seven Nigerian priests, for example, and they are doing wonderful work so we are very grateful for them and must welcome them.

“The third approach is the laity becoming more involved, taking on some duties that were normally the preserve of the priest, such as looking after the practical arrangements for local parish communities, leading the liturgy when a coffin arrives at a Church the evening before a funeral mass, visiting the sick and elderly, leading youth ministry and, indeed, steeping forward more in terms of mission, administration and liturgy.

“This is all good because we must become a more missionary Church. We can’t spend our time trying to maintain what we had or going into survival mode because that’s not what we are being called to do. We are called today to create and embrace a new way of Church. The Church itself in terms of the faith and sacraments is always the same. But we have to turn the way we do things in a different direction and travel that path and that’s what we’re now doing,” he added.

Bishop Leahy added that he has been heartened by growing engagement across the diocese, particularly younger age groups, over the past year or so.  

“I am encouraged that we have 100 young people coming to Lourdes on the Diocesan pilgrimage this week. We have another 70 young adults taking part in our summer camp experience in West Kerry in July and then 30 people going to Rome at the end of July for the Youth Jubilee event with Pope Leo. It was also great to see young people from Limerick at the launch of the Knock Youth Village last weekend. They bring such a vibrancy and energy to the Church.”

The following are clergy changes for 2025:

Canon William Fitzmaurice, to retire as Co-Parish Priest of the Maigue Pastoral Unit comprising the parishes of Bruff/Meanus/Grange, Banogue, Dromin/Athlacca, Croom, Fedamore and Manister.

Canon Tim Curtin retired on April 1 as Moderator of the Shannon West Pastoral Unit comprising the parishes of Shanagolden/Foynes/Robertstown, Loughill/Ballyhahill, Glin and Coolcappa/Kilcolman.

Fr Gerard O’Leary retired on February 1 as Co-Parish Priest of the Thomond Pastoral Subunit comprising the parishes of St Nicholas and St Mary’s.

Fr Éamonn Fitzgibbon, Vicar General, appointed as Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of the St James Pastoral Unit comprising the parishes of Rathkeale, Ballingarry/Granagh and Knockaderry/Cloncagh.

Fr Tim Collins, appointed as Curate of the St Nessan’s Pastoral Unit comprising the parishes of Patrickswell/Ballybrown, Mungret/Crecora/Raheen, St Paul’s, Kildimo/Pallaskenry and Kilcornan.

Canon Derek Leonard, appointed as Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of the Croí Clann Naofa Pastoral Unit comprising the parishes of St Joseph’s, St Saviour’s and Our Lady of Lourdes.

Fr Liam Enright, appointed as Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of Shannon West Pastoral Unit comprising the parishes of Shanagolden/Foynes/Robertstown, Loughill/Ballyhahill, Glin and Coolcappa/Kilcolman.

Fr Francesco Okonkwo, appointed as Co-Parish Priest to the Shannon West Pastoral Unit comprising the parishes of Shanagolden/Foynes/Robertstown, Loughill/Ballyhahill, Glin and Coolcappa/Kilcolman.

Fr Robbie Coffey, appointed as Co-Parish Priest of the Maigue Pastoral Unit comprising the parishes of Bruff/Meanus/Grange, Banogue, Dromin/Athlacca, Croom, Fedamore and Manister.

Fr Denis Mullane, appointed as Co-Parish Priest of the Maigue Pastoral Unit comprising the parishes of Bruff/Meanus/Grange, Banogue, Dromin/Athlacca, Croom, Fedamore and Manister.

Fr Tom Mangan, appointed as Moderator of the Íde Naofa Pastoral Unit comprising the parishes of Abbeyfeale, Athea, Templeglantine and Tournafulla/Mountcollins.

Fr Michael Eduziuno, while continuing his role in Pastoral Ministry in the Diocese, appointed part-time Assistant Priest in the Íde Naofa Pastoral Unit comprising the parishes of Abbeyfeale, Athea, Templeglantine and Tournafulla/Mountcollins.

Fr Shoji Varghese, appointed as Assistant Priest of St Nessan’s Pastoral Unit comprising the parishes of Patrickswell/Ballybrown, Mungret/Crecora/Raheen, St Paul’s, Kildimo/Pallaskenry and Kilcornan while continuing his hospital ministry.

Fr Emmanuel Okwudinka, appointed as Curate of Cill Rois Pastoral Unit comprising of the parishes of Christ the King, Cratloe/Sixmilebridge and Our Lady of the Rosary.

Fr Francis Nwanebu, appointed to assist in Youth Ministry and Assistant Priest of the Slí Pádraig Pastoral Unit comprising of the parishes of Donoughmore/Knockea/Roxboro, Our Lady Queen of Peace and Holy Family.

Monsignor Dan Neenan, appointed Director of Ecumenism for the Diocese.

The following Chapter nominations were announced:

Fr Michael Wall nominated as Canon holding the title of the St Munchin’s prebend within the Diocesan Chapter.

Fr Patrick O’Sullivan nominated as Canon holding the title of the Tullybrackey prebend within the Diocesan Chapter.

Fr Denis Mullane nominated as Canon holding the title of the Croagh prebend within the Diocesan Chapter.

Fr Tom Mangan nominated as Canon holding the title of the Dysart prebend within the Diocesan Chapter.

'It doesn't bode well': TDs blast Peter McVerry Trust's refusal to attend PAC

MEMBERS OF THE Public Accounts Committee have expressed their strong disappointment at the Peter McVerry Trust for its refusal to appear before it to discuss a report on its financial difficulties.

The housing charity, which in 2023 received a €15m bailout from the Government, has once again refused to appear before the Oireachtas committee. 

It previously refused to appear before the committee last year.

In a statement, the organisation said it “acknowledges the invitation” but is not currently in a position to take part. 

Responding to the invitation, the charity’s CEO Niall Mulligan said the organisation is “deeply appreciative” of the financial support and oversight arrangements that have been put in place to enable the charity to continue delivering its services. 

However, he said the organisation has “nothing to add” in relation to the report that it has been invited to discuss. 

The public statement issued by the organisation further stated that the reason it would not appear was because it is awaiting the completion of its audited financial statements for 2023. 

“Once these audited accounts are available, they will be published and we will share relevant information with our stakeholders and the public as appropriate, including making representatives available for the appropriate Oireachtas committee in due course,” the statement said. 

Social Democrats TD and PAC member Aidan Farrelly said it was “really regrettable that an organisation in receipt of €15m financial support from the State has chosen not to appear”.

He added that it “doesn’t bode well” for the work of the committee over the next term if organisations like the Peter McVerry Trust refuse to appear. 

“If this kick-starts a trend in organisations opting out, then I think it leaves the committee with one hand tied behind its back to an extent,” Farrelly said.

“This is an explicit organisation that is fulfilling government policy in terms of homelessness and housing and is in receipt of a large sum of public money.

“I accept we need to see the financial accounts, but they should be available to answer questions. To simply not appear twice now is concerning,” he added.

Likewise, Fine Gael TD and PAC member James Geoghegan said the charity should use the opportunity to “rebuild trust”.

“The bottom line is that at this stage, the investigations are complete, and they should just come before the Oireachtas to outline the measures that they’ve taken to date,” he said. 

“I know full well the incredible work that the Peter McVerry Trust does, particularly in the area of Housing First. But that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t come before a committee that’s dealing with governance and finance and to explain the issues that have arisen.”

Pope Leo to resume papal tradition with plan to escape Rome’s summer heat

Pope Leo XIV will resume the papal tradition of taking a summer break outside Rome, the Vatican has announced.

Leo will head to the papal retreat of Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, from July 6-20 “for a period of rest” and again for a few days over the Catholic Assumption feast day in August, the Vatican said.

Leo visited the papal summer palace last month, raising speculation that he would resume a tradition that goes back centuries.

Pope Urban VIII built the palace in 1624 to give popes an escape from the sweltering Roman summer.

It was enlarged over succeeding pontificates to its present size of 136 acres, bigger than Vatican City itself.

Pope Francis, who died just after Easter, was known as a workaholic homebody who never took a proper holiday during his 12-year papacy, staying at the Vatican even during the hot summer months.

Both of Francis’ immediate predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, spent time at Castel Gandolfo, interspersed with visits to the northern Italian Alps.

Benedict was especially fond of Castel Gandolfo, closing his papacy out there in 2013.

Partly to offset an economic downturn in the local town due to the papal absence, Francis opened the palazzo’s gardens to the public in 2014 and later turned part of it into a museum.

In what will be a boon to the local community, Leo is resuming the traditional Angelus blessing to the faithful gathered in front of Castel Gandolfo on July 13 and July 20, and again on August 15 and 17, when he returns for a short stay over Italy’s most important summer holiday.

Public and private audiences at the Vatican will be suspended for most of July, resuming on July 30.

Plans for mother and baby home victims and survivors deemed ‘kick in the teeth’

Proposals for victims and survivors of mother and baby institutions, Magdalene Laundries and workhouses have been described as a “kick in the teeth”.

Concern has been expressed that “huge swathes” of potential applicants to a long awaited redress scheme are set to be excluded.

More than 14,000 women and girls are thought to have passed through the institutions, with many found to have been mistreated, held against their will and forced to give up children for adoption.

They were run by the Catholic Church, religious orders, some Protestant denominations as well as the State, with some in operation until 1995.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly on Monday introduced legislation to establish an inquiry into the institutions and an associated redress scheme.

Ms O’Neill said they hope the legislation “demonstrates our sincere commitment to respecting and fulfilling the wishes of those who for many decades have suffered and been silenced”.

The Executive Bill is to establish a statutory public inquiry and a statutory redress scheme at an estimated cost of £80 million, which includes almost £60 million in initial redress payments to cover about 6,600 claims.

Each eligible claimant is to receive a payment of £10,000, and a £2,000 payment will be made to each eligible family member on behalf of a loved one who has died since September 29th, 2011.

A further Individually Assessed Payment (IAP) for the specific harm suffered by an individual is to follow the public inquiry.

The ministers also met with survivors of the institutions on Monday.

However some who attended the meeting expressed concern over those who are excluded by the proposals.

The legal firm KRW Law, which represents many of the victims and survivors, described “huge disquiet over the prospective exclusion of many survivors”.

They said the cut-off for posthumous claims for deceased birth mothers and children of 2011 “cuts out a huge swathe of prospective applicants”, while victims of work houses appear to be excluded, and the “blanket removal” of foster care home survivors.

There is also concern around the limit on the sum proposed by way of interim payment with no allowance for inflation.

Solicitor Aine Rice, of KRW’s historic abuse team, said they reject the current proposals as “unfit for purpose”.

She said: “So much work has been put in by many people to get to this stage only for it to be undone in one fell swoop.

“There’s an insensitivity underpinning all of this which makes it galling.

“We reject the current proposals as unfit for purpose. More, much more, needs done to address the imbalance in play here. We need to see a complete U-turn by the time we reach the next stage of the Bill, but time is running out fast.

“We are told that many are thinking of leaving the consultation forum and threatening protest.”

Institution survivor Marie Arbuckle said the latest proposals are a “kick in the teeth for many survivors”.

She added: “It seems to me that the Government hasn’t listened to us properly at all.

“Why do a consultation in the first place if the wishes and hopes of survivors aren’t taken on board?

“I don’t think lessons have been learned from what happened in the south of Ireland.

“The understandable drive to save money has simply gone too far, and all at the expense of the wishes of victims.

“We have lost all confidence in the process we worked so hard on for the last three years.”

Australian bishop pleads guilty to firearm-related charges

A former bishop of the Diocese of Broome, Australia, who faces sexual abuse and assault charges, pleaded guilty on Monday to seven firearm-related charges.

Bishop Christopher Saunders, 75, pleaded guilty at Broome Magistrate Court June 16 to six charges of inadequately storing ammunition and firearms, as well as one count of possessing ammunition without a license.

Saunders, who stepped down in 2021, faces a total of 39 charges for a variety of alleged crimes, including sexual penetration without consent, indecent dealings with a child, and indecent and unlawful abuse.

The firearm charges were filed after police officers found a rifle and several rounds of ammunition in the bishop’s car, along with more than 500 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition stowed in a camera bag, during a January 2024 raid on the bishop’s home and office. 

Officers also found ammunition scattered throughout Saunders’ house and office.

Officers said that Saunders did not have a proper permit to possess the rifle and ammunition.

According to local media, Magistrate Deen Potter called the retired bishop's actions "extremely lax,” but noted that Saunders did not have a history of illegally possessing firearms and ammunition. 

The magistrate imposed a fine of 2,000 Australian dollars (roughly $1,300). 

The bishop also received a conviction that will be treated as spent.

Saunders’ guilty plea on the firearms charges came nearly nine months after he pleaded not guilty to sexual abuse and assault charges in an Australian court.

Saunders was arrested in February 2024 following the police raid the month before. He was charged with 26 offenses: 19 historical sex charges and seven firearms charges. He posted bond and was released.

He pleaded not guilty in September 2024 to the 19 abuse charges.

In December 2024, Saunders was charged with five more sexual offenses. He appeared in court, but did not enter a plea to the new charges. His lawyer said that Saunders planned to plead not guilty at his next court date.

In January this year, child abuse squad detectives re-arrested Saunders in Western Australia.

Saunders was charged with six new counts of abuse: the sexual penetration of a child under the age of 13, three counts of indecent dealings with a child under 13, and two common assault counts. The offenses are alleged to have taken place in Broome between 2009 and 2010.

This brought the number of charges against Saunders to 39. He did not immediately enter a plea regarding the most recent sexual assault charges, but has consistently maintained his innocence of sexual offenses.

Saunders led the Broome diocese from 1996 until 2021, when he resigned at 71 citing “ill health,” amid allegations of sexual misconduct and grooming against young Aboriginal men.

His resignation followed a decision to step back from governance of the diocese in 2020, after accusations that he had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of Church funds on gifts for vulnerable young men, including cash, phones, alcohol, and travel.

The police investigation that led to the 2024 raid and the bishop’s arrest came after Church authorities handed over a 200-page investigation into Saunders’ alleged misconduct, ordered by the Vatican in 2022, after a separate police probe had been closed in 2021 due to a lack of evidence.

The results of the canonical investigation into Saunders were forwarded to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the canonical process on hold pending the criminal proceedings against the bishop.

In April 2024, Saunders’ former secretary Cherrille Quilty told The Pillar she had been ordered by the bishop to make “hush money” payments to the bishop’s alleged victims during her time working for him.

“I was asked to pay off one of those victims that came forward several times,” Quilty said, explaining that the list was ostensibly for the payment of men who had done “odd jobs” for the bishop.

“It was so urgent that I pay them. It wasn't for odd jobs, I can tell you that now. It was hush money. One of the first victims that came forward was the one that I paid most frequently and it was to shut him up.”

The Broome diocese covers the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of the sparsely populated state of Western Australia, serving around 15,000 Catholics out of a total population of 44,000 people.

Bishop Timothy Norton, S.V.D., was installed as the new Bishop of Broome on Dec. 4, 2024.

In a February 2025 message to Catholics in Broome diocese, Norton said that the court processes involving Saunders were expected to “take some time.”

“I acknowledge the vital role of the police and the court system in our society, and it is for that reason that I cannot make any specific comments about this case either now or into the future,” he wrote.

“Our diocese has and will continue to cooperate fully with the West Australian Police as they investigate these matters. It is in the best interests of all parties that justice be done and that the process has complete integrity.”

He added: “If you have any information relating to this matter, I urge you to go directly to the Western Australian Police. If this matter is causing you a significant level of distress or vulnerability, I would urge you to seek assistance. The diocese has a completely independent and confidential counseling service available.”

These were the 796 children who died at Tuam Mother and Baby Home

THE REMAINS OF infants and toddlers lay for decades at the site at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, unmarked, unvisited, unknown.

Investigators for the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Inquiry confirmed both that they had uncovered “a significant number” of those children’s remains – and that they dated back to the era during which the home was operational.

Very few pictures from the home exist but thanks to the tireless work of historian Catherine Corless, we do have the names of 796 children who died there between 1925 and 1960.

The infant mortality rate at the home was double that of even other mother and baby homes around the country at the time. 

Young children in the Tuam home succumbed to deaths from afflictions as heartbreakingly familiar as the flu and, although only in a small number of cases, ear infections.

The most common causes of death were “debility from birth” (25%), 15% from “respiratory diseases”, 10% each from influenza and the measles, 8% born too premature to survive, 6% from whooping cough and in smaller numbers of epilepsy/convulsions, gastroenteritis, meningitis, congenital heart disease and congenital syphilis, skin diseases, chicken pox and one per cent of malnutrition.

As of yet, we do not know how many of these children are among the remains found but Corless supplied the names of all of the children, and their age when they died.

In lieu of an inscription of each child’s name on a physical memorial, we publish them all here today.

1925

Patrick Derrane 5 months

Mary Blake 4 months

Matthew Griffin 3 months

Mary Kelly 6 months

Peter Lally 11 months

Julia Hynes 1 year

James Murray 1 month

1926

Joseph McWilliam 6 months

John Mullen 3 months

Mary Wade 3 years

Maud McTigue 6 years

Bernard Lynch 3 years

Martin Shaughnessy 18 months

Bridget Glynn 1 year

Margaret Glynn 1 year

Patrick Gorham 21 months

Patrick O’Connell 1 year

John Carty 21 months

Madeline Bernard 2 years

Maureen Kenny 8 years

Kathleen Donohue 1 year

Thomas Donelan 2 years

Mary Quilan 2 years

Mary King 9 months

Mary Warde 21 months

George Coyne 2 years

Julia Cummins 18 months

Barbara Fola/ Wallace 9 months

Pauline Carter 11 months

Mary Walsh 1 year

Annie Stankard 10 months

John Connelly 9 months

Anthony Cooke 1 month

Michael Casey 3 years

Annie McCarron 2 months

Patricia Dunne 2 months

John Carty 3 months

Peter McNamara 7 weeks

Mary Shaughnessy 4 months

Joseph Coen 5 months

Mary Murphy 2 months

Patrick Kelly 2 months

Martin Rabbitte 6 weeks

Kathleen Quinn 7 months

Patrick Halpin 2 months

Martin McGuinness 6 months

1927

Mary Kate Connell 3 months

Patrick Raftery 7 months

Patrick Paterson 5 months

James Murray 1 month

Colman O’ Loughlin 5 months

Agnes Canavan 18 months

Christina Lynch 15 months

Mary O’Loughlin 6 months

Annie O’ Connor 15 months

John Greally 11 months

Joseph Fenigan 4 years

Mary Connolly 2 months

James Muldoon 4 months

Joseph Madden 3 months

Mary Devaney 18 months

1928

Michael Gannon 6 months

Bridget Cunningham 2 months

Margaret Conneely 18 months

Patrick Warren 8 months

James Mulryan 1 month

Mary Kate Fahey 3 years

Mary Mahon 1 month

Martin Flanagan 1 month

Mary Forde 4 months

Patrick Hannon 20 months

Michael Donellan 6 months

Joseph Ward 7 months

Walter Jordan 3 years

Mary Mullins 1 month

1929

Peter Christian 7 months

Mary Cunningham 5 months

James Ryan 9 months

Patrick O’Donnell 9 months

Mary Monaghan 4 years

Patrick O’Malley 1 year

Philomena Healy 11 months

Michael Ryan 1 year

Patrick Curran 6 months

Patrick Fahy 2 months

Laurence Molloy 5 months

Patrick Lynskey 6 months

Vincent Nally 21 months

Mary Grady 18 months

Martin Gould 21 months

Patrick Kelly 2 months

1930

Bridget Quinn 1 year

William Reilly 9 months

George Lestrange 7 months

Christy Walshe 15 months

Margaret Mary Gagen 1 year

Patrick Moran 4 months

Celia Healy 5months

James Quinn 4 years

Bridget Walsh 15months

1931

Patrick Shiels 4 months

Mary Teresa Drury 1 year

Peter O’Brien 18 months

Peter Malone 18 months

Carmel Moylan 8 months

Mary Burke 10 months

Mary Josephine Garvey 5 months

Mary Warde 10 months

Catherine Howley 9 months

Michael Pat McKenna 3 months

Richard Raftery 3 months

1932

Margaret Doorhy 8 months

Patrick Leonard 9 months

Mary Coyne 1 year

Mary Kate Walsh 2 years

Christina Burke 1 year

Mary Margaret Jordan 18 months

John Joseph McCann 8 months

Teresa McMullan 1 year

George Gavin 1 year

Joseph O’Boyle 2 months

Peter Nash 1 year

Bridget Galvin 3 months

Margaret Niland 3 years

Christina Quinn 3 months

Kathleen Cloran 9 years

Annie Sullivan 8 months

Patricia Judge 1 year

Mary Birmingham 9 months

Laurence Hill 11 months

Brendan Patrick Pender 1 month

Kate Fitzmaurice 4 months

Baby Mulkerrins 5 days

Angela Madden 3 months

Mary McDonagh 1 year

1933

Mary C Shaughnessy 1 month

Mary Moloney 11 months

Patrick Joseph Brennan 1 months

Anthony O’Toole 2 months

Mary Cloherty 9days

Joseph Fahy 10 months

Mary Finola Cunniffe 6 months

Martin Cassidy 5 months

Francis Walsh 3 months

Mary Garvey 4 months

Kathleen Gilchrist 8 months

Mary Kate Walsh 1 months

Eileen Fallon 18 months

Harry Leonard 3 years

Mary Kate Guilfoyle 3 months

John Callinan 3 months

John Kilmartin 2 months

Julia Shaughnessy 3 months

Patrick Prendergast 6 months

Bridgid Holland 2 months

Bridgid Moran 15 months

Margaret Mary Fahy 15 months

Bridgid Ryan 9 months

Mary Brennan 4 months

Mary Conole 1 months

John Flattery 2 years

Margaret Donohue 10 months

Joseph Dunn 3 years

Owen Lenane 2 months

Josephine Steed 3 months

Mary Meeneghan 3 months

James McIntyre 4 months

1934

John Joseph Murphy 4 months

Margaret Mary O’Gara 2 months

Eileen Butler 2 months

Thomas Molloy 2 months

James Joseph Bodkin 6 months

John Kelly 2 months

Mary Walshe 6 months

Mary Jo Colohan 4 months

Florence Conneely 7 months

Norah McCann 1 months

Mary Kelly 9 months

Rose O’Dowd 6 months

Mary Egan 4 months

Michael Concannon 4 months

Paul Joyce 10 months

Mary Christina Kennedy 4 months

Bridget Finnegan 2 months

Mary Flaherty 3 months

Thomas McDonagh 4 months

Joseph Hoey 1 year

Sheila Tuohy 9 years

Teresa Cunniffe 3 months

Joseph Clohessy 2 months

Mary Kiely 4 months

Thomas Cloran 6 months

Mary Burke 3 months

Mary Marg Flaherty 4 months

John Keane 17 days

Luke Ward 15 months

Mary O’Reilly 5 months

1935

Ellen Mountgomery 18 months

Mary Elizabeth Lydon 4 months

Brigid Madden 1 month

Mary Margaret Murphy 4 months

Mary Nealon 7 months

Stephen Linnane 4 months

Josephine Walsh 1 years

Kate Cunningham 2 months

Mary Bernadet Hibbett 1 month

Thomas Linnane 4 months

Patrick Lane 3 months

Mary Anne Conway 2 months

James Kane 8 months

Christopher Leech 3 months

Elizabeth Ann McCann 5 months

Margaret Mary Coen 2 months

Michael Linnane 15months

Bridget Glenane 5 weeks

1936

John O’Toole 7 months

John Creshal 4 months

Mary Teresa Egan 3 months

Michael Boyle 3 months

Anthony Mannion 6 weeks

Donald Dowd 5 months

Peter Ridge 4 months

Eileen Collins 2 months

Mary Brennan 2 months

James Fahy 5 months

Mary Bridget Larkin 8 months

Margaret Scanlon 3 years

Brian O’Malley 4 months

Michael Madden 6 months

1937

Mary Kate Cahill 2 weeks

Mary Margaret Lydon 3 months

Festus Sullivan 1 month

Annie Curley 3 weeks

Nuala Lydon 5 months

Bridget Collins 5 weeks

Patrick Joseph Coleman 1 month

Joseph Hannon 6 weeks

Henry Monaghan 3 weeks

Michael Joseph Shiels 7 weeks

Martin Sheridan 5 weeks

John Patrick Loftus 10 months

Patrick Joseph Murphy 3 months

Catherine McHugh 4 months

Mary Patricia Toher 4 months

Mary Kate Sheridan 4 months

Mary Flaherty 19 months

Mary Anne Walsh 14 months

Eileen Quinn 2 years

Patrick Burke 9 months

Margaret Holland 2 days

Joseph Langan 6 months

Sabina Pauline O’Grady 6 months

Patrick Qualter 3 years

Mary King 5 months

Eileen Conry 1 year

1938

Mary Nee 4 months

Martin Andrew Larkin 14 months

Mary Keane 3 weeks

Kathleen V Cuffe 6 months

Margaret Linnane 4 months

Teresa Heneghan 3 months

John Neary 7 months

Patrick Madden 4 months

Mary Cafferty 2 months

Mary Kate Keane 3 months

Patrick Hynes 3 weeks

Annie Solan 2 months

Charles Lydon 9 months

Margaret Mullins 7 months

Mary Mulligan 2 months

Anthony Lally 5 months

Joseph Spelman 6 weeks

Annie Begley 3 months

Vincent Egan 1 week

Nora Murphy 5 months

Patrick Garvey 6 months

Patricia Burke 4 months

Winifred Barret 2 years

Agnes Marron 3 months

Christopher Kennedy 5 months

Patrick Harrington 1 week

1939

Kathleen Devine 2 years

Vincent Garaghan 1 month

Ellen Gibbons 6 months

Michael McGrath 4 months

Edward Fraser 3 months

Bridget Lally 1 year

Patrick McLoughlin 5 months

Martin Healy 4 months

Nora Duffy 3 months

Margaret Higgins 1 week

Patrick Egan 6 months

Vincent Farragher 11 months

Patrick Joseph Jordan 3 months

Michael Hanley 1 month

Catherine Gilmore 3 months

Baby Carney 1 day

Annie Coyne 3 months

Helena Cosgrave 5 months

Thomas Walsh 2 months

Baby Walsh 1 day

Kathleen Hession 4 months

Brigid Hurley 11 months

Ellen Beegan 2 months

Mary Keogh 1 year

Bridget Burke 3 months

1940

Martin Reilly 9 months

Martin Hughes 11 months

Mary Connolly 1 month

Mary Kate Ruane 1 month

Joseph Mulchrone 3 months

Michael Williams 14 months

Martin Moran 7 weeks

Josephine Mahony 2 months

James Henry 5 weeks

Bridget Staunton 5 months

John Creaven 2 weeks

Peter Lydon 6 weeks

Patrick Joseph Ruane 4 months

Michael Quinn 8 months

Julia Coen 1 week

Annie McAndrew 5 months

John Walsh 3 months

Patrick Flaherty 6 months

Bernadette Purcell 2 years

Joseph Macklin 1 day

Thomas Duffy 2 days

Elizabeth Fahy 4 months

James Kelly 2 months

Nora Gallagher 4 months

Kathleen Cannon 4 months

Winifred Tighe 8 months

Christopher Williams 1 year

Joseph Lynch 1 year

Andrew McHugh 15 months

William Glennan 18 months

Michael J Kelly 5 months

Patrick Gallagher 3 months

Michael Gerard Keane 2 months

Ellen Lawless 6 months

1941

Mary Finn 3 months

Martin Timlin 3 months

Mary McLoughlin 1 month

Mary Brennan 5 months

Patrick Dominic Egan 1 month

Nora Thornton 17 months

Anne Joyce 1 year

Catherine Kelly 10 months

Michael Monaghan 8 months

Simon John Hargraves 6 months

Baby Forde 1 day

Joseph Byrne 2 months

Patrick Hegarty 4 months

Patrick Corcoran 1 month

James Leonard 16 days

Jane Gormley 22 days

Anne Ruane 11 days

Patrick Munnelly 3 months

John Lavelle 6 weeks

Patrick Ruane 24 days

Patrick Joseph Quinn 3 months

Joseph Kennelly 15 days

Kathleen Monaghan 3 months

Baby Quinn 2 days

Anthony Roche 4 monthS

Annie Roughneen 3 weeks

Anne Kate O’Hara 4 months

Patrick Joseph Nevin 3 months

John Joseph Hopkins 3 months

Thomas Gibbons 1 month

Winifred McTigue 7 months

Thomas Joseph Begley 2 months

1942

Kathleen Heneghan 25 days

Elizabeth Murphy 4 months

Nora Farnan 1 month

Teresa Tarpey 1 month

Margaret Carey 11 months

John Garvey 6 weeks

Bridget Goldrick 4 months

Bridget White 3 months

Noel Slattery 1 month

Mary T Connaughton 4 months

Nora McCormack 6 weeks

Joseph Hefferon 5 months

Mary Higgins 9 days

Mary Farrell 21 days

Mary McDonnell 1 month

Geraldine Cunniffe 11 weeks

Michael Mannion 3 months

Bridget McHugh 7 months

Mary McEvady 18 months

Helena Walsh 3 months

William McDoell 2 days

Michael Finn 14 months

Mary Murphy 10 months

Gertrude Glynn 6 months

Joseph Flaherty 7 weeks

Mary O’Malley 4 years

John P Callanan 13 days

Baby McDonnell 1 day

Female McDonnell 1 day

Christopher Burke 9 months

Stephen Connolly 8 months

Mary Atkinson 6 months

Mary Anne Finegan 7 weeks

Francis Richardson 15 months

Michael John Rice 6 months

Nora Carr 4 months

William Walsh 16 months

Vincent Cunnane 14 months

Eileen Coady 10 months

Female Roache 1 day

Male Roache 1 day

Patrick Flannery 2 months

John Dermody 3 months

Margaret Spellman 4 months

Austin Nally 3 months

Margaret Dolan 3 months

Vincent Finn 9 months

Bridget Grogan 6 months

1943

Thomas Patrick Cloran 9 weeks

Catherine Devere 1 month

Mary Josephine Glynn 1 day

Annie Connolly 9 months

Martin Cosgrove 7 weeks

Catherine Cunningham 2 years

Bridget Hardiman 2 months

Mary Grier 5 months

Mary P McCormick 2 months

Brendan Muldoon 5 weeks

Nora Moran 7 months

Joseph Maher 20 days

Teresa Dooley 3 months

Daniel Tully 7 months

Brendan Durkan 1 month

Sheila O’Connor 3 months

Annie Coen 6 months

Patrick J Kennedy 6 days

Thomas Walsh 2 months

Patrick Rice 1 year

Edward McGowan 10 months

Brendan Egan 10 months

Margaret McDonagh 1 month

Annie J Donellan 10 months

Thomas Walsh 14 days

Bridget Quinn 6 months

Mary Mulkerins 5 weeks

Kathleen Parkinson 10 months

Sheila Madeline Flynn 4 months

Patrick Joseph Maloney 2 months

Bridget Carney 7 months

Mary M O’Connor 6 months

Joseph Geraghty 3 months

Annie Coen 10 months

Martin Joseph Feeney 4 months

Anthony Finnegan 3 months

Patrick Coady 3 months

Baby Cunningham 1 day

Annie Fahy 3 months

Baby Byrne 1 day

Patrick Mullaney 18 months

Thomas Connelly 3 months

Mary Larkin 2 months

Margaret Kelly 4 months

Barbara McDonagh 4 months

Mary O’Brien 4 months

Keiran Hennelly 14 months

Annie Folan 4 months

Baby McNamara 1 day

Julia Murphy 3 months

1944

John Rockford 4 months

Vincent Geraghty 1 year

Male O’Brien 2 days

Anthony Deane 2 days

Mary Teresa O’Brien 15 days

John Connelly 3 months

Bridget Murphy 3 months

Patricia Dunne 2 months

Francis Kinahan 1 month

Joseph Sweeney 20 days

Josephine O’Hagan 6 months

Patrick Lavin 1 month

Annie Maria Glynn 13 months

Kate Agnes Moore 2 months

Kevin Kearns 15 months

Thomas Doocey 15 months

William Conneely 8 months

Margaret Spelman 16 months

Mary Kate Cullen 22 months

Kathleen Brown 3 years

Julia Kelly 19 months

Mary Connolly 7 years

Catherine Harrison 2 years

Eileen Forde 21 months

Michael Monaghan 2 years

Mary Frances Lenihan 3 days

Anthony Byrne 6 months

Jarlath Thornton 7 weeks

John Kelly 6 days

Joseph O’Brien 18 months

Anthony Hyland 3 months

Male Murray 1 day

Female Murray 1 day

Joseph F McDonnell 11 days

Mary Walsh 15 months

Baby Glynn 1 day

James Gaughan 14 months

Margaret Walsh 4 months

Mary P Moran 9 days

John Francis Malone 7 days

1945

Michael F Dempsey 7 weeks

Christina M Greally 4 months

Teresa Donnellan 1 month

Rose Anne King 5 weeks

Christopher J Joyce 2 months

James Mannion 8 months

Mary T Sullivan 3 weeks

Patrick Holohan 11 months

Michael Joseph Keane 1 month

Bridget Keaney 2 months

Joseph Flaherty 8 days

Baby Mahady 3 days

James Rogers 10 days

Kathleen F Taylor 9 months

Gerard C Hogan 7 months

Kathleen Corrigan 2 months

Mary Connolly 3 months

Patrick J Farrell 5 months

Patrick Laffey 3 years

Fabian Hynes 8 months

John Joseph Grehan 2 years

Edward O’Malley 3 months

Mary Fleming 6 months

Bridget F McHugh 3 months

Michael Folan 18 months

Oliver Holland 6 months

Ellen Nevin 7 months

Margaret Horan 6 months

Peter Mullarky 4 months

Mary P O’Brien 4 months

Teresa Francis O’Brien 4 months

Mary Kennedy 18 months

Sarah Ann Carroll 4 months

Baby Maye 5 days

1946

Mary Devaney 21 days

Anthony McDonnell 6 months

Vincent Molloy 7 days

John Patrick Lyons 5 months

Gerald Aidan Timlin 3 days

Patrick Costelloe 17 days

John Francis O’Grady 1 month

Bridget Mary Flaherty 12 days

Josephine Finnegan 20 months

Martin McGrath 3 days

Baby Haugh 1 day

James Frayne 1 month

Mary Frances Crealy 14 days

Mary Davey 2 months

Patrick Joseph Hoban 11 days

Angela Dolan 3 months

Mary Lyden 5 months

Bridget Coneely 4 months

Austin O’Toole 4 months

Bernard Laffey 5 months

Mary Ellen Waldron 8 months

Terence O’Boyle 3 months

Mary Frances O’Hara 1 month

Martin Dermott Henry 43 days

Mary Devaney 3 months

Bridget Foley 6 months

Martin Kilkelly 40 days

Theresa Monica Hehir 6 weeks

Patrick A Mitchell 3 months

John Kearney 5 months

John Joseph Kelly 3 months

John Conneely 4 months

Stephen L O’Toole 2 months

Thomas A Buckley 5 weeks

Michael John Gilmore 3 months

Patrick J Monaghan 3 months

Mary Teresa Murray 2 months

Patrick McKeighe 2 months

John Raymond Feeney 3 months

Finbar Noone 2 months

John O’Brien 21 days

Beatrice Keane 5 years

Mary P Veale 5 weeks

Winifred Gillespie 1 year

Anthony Coen 10 weeks

Michael F Sheridan 3 months

Anne Holden 3 months

Martin Joseph O’Brien 7 weeks

Winifred Larkin 1 month

1947

Patrick Thomas Coen 1 month

Mary Bridget Joyce 8 months

Geraldine Collins 13 months

Mary Flaherty 5 days

Vincent Keogh 5 months

John Francis Healy 10 days

Martin J Kennelly 1 month

Patrick Keaveney 2 months

Philomena Flynn 2 months

William Reilly 9 months

Margaret N Concannon 1 year

Patrick J Fitzpatrick 14days

Joseph Cunningham 2 months

Mary J Flaherty 13 months

Kathleen Murray 3 years

John O’Connell 2 years

Alphonsus Hanley 21 months

Bridget P Muldoon 11 months

Patricia C Higgins 5 months

Catherine B Kennedy 2 months

John Desmond Dolan 15 months

Stephen Joynt 2 years

Catherine T Kearns 2 years

Margaret Hurney 2 years

John Patton 2 years

Patrick J Williams 15 months

Nora Hynes 8 months

Anthony Donohue 2 years

Brendan McGreal 1 year

Anthony Cafferky 23 days

Nora Cullinane 18 months

Kathleen Daly 2 years

Nora Conneely 15 months

Mary Teresa Joyce 13 months

Kenneth A Ellesmere 1 day

Mary P Carroll 4 months

Thomas Collins 17 months

Margaret M Moloney 3 months

Josephine Tierney 8 months

Margaret M Deasy 3 months

Martin Francis Bane 3 months

Bridget Agatha Kenny 2 months

Baby Kelly 1 day

Mary Teresa Judge 15 months

Paul Dominick Bennett 3 months

Mary Bridget Giblin 18 months

1948

Kathleen Madden 2 months

Mary P Byrne 8 weeks

Joseph Byrce 4 months

Joseph Byrne 11 months

Kathleen Glynn 4 months

Augustine Jordan 9 months

Michael F Dwyer 18 months

Noel C Murphy 14 months

Margaret McNamee 6 months

Patrick Grealish 6 weeks

Bernadette O’Reilly 7 months

John Joseph Carr 3 weeks

Paul Gardiner 10 months

Simon Thomas Folan 9 weeks

Joseph Ferguson 3 months

Peter Heffernan 4 months

Patrick J Killeen 14 weeks

Stephen Halloran 7 months

Teresa Grealish 5 months

John Keane 4 months

Mary Burke 9 months

Brigid McTigue 3 months

Margaret R Broderick 8 months

Martin Mannion 3 months

1949

Mary Margaret Riddell 8 months

Thomas J Noonan 7 weeks

Peter Casey 10 months

Michael Scully 3 months

Baby Lyons 5 days

Hubert McLoughlin 4 months

Mary M Finnegan 3 months

Nicholas P Morley 3 months

Teresa Bane 6 months

Patrick J Kennedy 5 weeks

Michael Francis Ryan 3 days

John Forde 2 years

Mary P Cunnane 3 months

Margaret P Sheridan 4 months

Patrick Joseph Nevin 3 months

Joseph Nally 5 months

Christopher Burke 3 months

Anne Madden 7 weeks

Bridget T Madden 7 weeks

Thomas Murphy 3 months

Francis Carroll 2 months

Bridget J Linnan 9 months

Josephine Staunton 8 days

Mary Ellen McKeigue 7 weeks

1950

Mary J Mulchrone 3 months

Catherine Higgins 4 years

Catherine Anne Egan 3 months

Thomas McQuaid 4 months

Dermott Muldoo 4 months

Martin Hanley 9 weeks

John Joseph Lally 3 months

Brendan Larkin 5 months

Baby Bell 1 day

Mary J Larkin 7 months

Annie Fleming 9 months

Colm A McNulty 1 month

Walter Flaherty 3 months

Sarah Burke 15 days

Mary Ann Boyle 5 months

John Anthony Murphy 5 months

Joseph A Colohan 4 months

Christopher Begley 18 days

1951

Catherine A Meehan 4 months

Martin McLynskey 6 months

Mary J Crehan 3 months

Mary Ann McDonagh 2 months

Joseph Folan 22 days

Evelyn Barrett 4 months

Paul Morris 4 months

Peter Morris 4 months

Mary Martyna Joyce 18 months

Mary Margaret Lane 7 months

1952

John Noone 4 months

Anne J McDonnell 6 months

Joseph Anthony Burke 6 months

Patrick Hardiman 6 months

Patrick Naughton 12 days

Josephine T Staunton 21 days

John Joseph Mills 5 months

1953

Baby Hastings 1 day

Mary Donlon 4 months

Nora Connolly 15 months

1954

Anne Heneghan 3 months

Mary Keville 9 months

Martin Murphy 5 months

Mary Barbara Murphy 5 months

Mary P Logue 5 months

Margaret E Cooke 6 months

Mary Ann Broderick 14 months

Ann Marian Fahy 4 months

Anne Dillon 4 months

Imelda Halloran 2 years

1955

Joseph Gavin 10 months

Marian Brigid Mulryan 10 months

Mary C Rafferty 3 months

Nora Mary Howard 4 months

Joseph Dempsey 3 months

Patrick Walsh 3 weeks

Francis M Heaney 3 years

1956

Dermot Gavin 2 weeks

Mary C Burke 3 years

Patrick Burke 1 year

Paul Henry Nee 5 months

Oliver Reilly 4 months

Gerard Connaughton 11 months

Rose Marie Murphy 2 years

1957

Margaret Connaire 4 months

Stephen Noel Browne 2 years

Baby Fallon 4 days

1958

Geraldine O’Malley 6 months

1959

Dolores Conneely 7 months

Mary Maloney 4 months

1960

Mary Carty 5 months