“It’s safe to say that that was a pretty emotional thing that we’ve just done. It’s something I’ll never forget,” says TV vicar after Lourdes immersion.

Churches of almost every denomination hosted activities on Culture Night 2018.

It is said that there are weeks when the BBC Songs of Praise regularly wins a larger Irish audience than RTE produced religious affairs programming.

“We should take more, give more and be a constructive voice in the European debate” - Peter Sutherland, UN special representative for international migration.