When I was in Secondary School, back in the ‘70s, we had a retreat with the Chaplain and a team once a year and I always looked forward to those few days. Of course, it made a change from the daily routine and afforded me a break from the dreaded Maths classes! It provided… Read More
Category: Blog
Celebration of Life Mass- Sunday 3 October
Celebration of Life Mass- Sunday 3 October Where: St Saviour’s Church, Upper Dominick Street, Dublin 1 In the early days of the lockdown caused by the covid-19 pandemic my good friend’s father died. At that time of course we were unable to go into the Church so there was no funeral Mass. Friends and neighbours… Read More
The Saint of our Time: Padre Pio
On Thursday, 23rd we celebrated the feast day of the man we still refer to as Padre Pio, but who is of course a saint of the Catholic Church, with the title St Pio of Pietrelcina. Born in 1887, to peasant farmers in the Campanian Uplands, he later said… Read More
A Visit to Knock
Last Saturday I was in the west of Ireland for the weekend and took the opportunity to pay a visit to Knock Shrine in Co Mayo. The journey from Ballaghaderreen, where we were based, is a pleasant one through tranquil countryside. We made our way past houses and shop fronts festooned with Mayo flags in… Read More
The Princess and the Saint
The seven days which began on 31 August 1997 with news of the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and ended on 6 September with her funeral are unlikely to be forgotten by those, like myself, who lived through them. I will always remember the sight of her coffin, draped in the multicoloured Royal… Read More
Tragedy in Afghanistan
As I write this, news is coming in about two powerful explosions outside Kabul’s international airport which have claimed the lives of at least sixty Afghans and thirteen American troops. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said one blast occurred near the airport at Abbey Gate and the other close to the nearby Bidon Hotel. In… Read More
Popes in Peril – Times of crisis
It came as an unpleasant shock this week when news emerged from Rome that a threatening letter containing three bullets addressed to Pope Francis had been seized by Italian police. The discovery was made in a postal facility in the small town of Peschiera Borromeo on the outskirts of Milan. The suspicious package, believed to… Read More
St Dominic’s Journey – Founder of the Dominican Order
In August the Dominican family worldwide remember their founder, St Dominic Guzman, whose solemnity is celebrated on the eighth of this month. The son and youngest child of Felix de Guzman, a noble, and Blessed Joan of Aza, he was born in Calaruega, Spain, in 1170. He was educated by his uncle, the archpriest… Read More
Celebrating Grandparents
Last Sunday, July 25th, marked the first observation of the Church’s annual Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. On January 31, 2021, Pope Francis made the announcement of this new event to be celebrated every year on the fourth Sunday in July. In the Vatican, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, celebrated Mass in St Peter’s Basilica, standing… Read More
St Brigid of Sweden
We in Ireland are proud of our two famous Patron Saints, Patrick and of course Brigid, who is also known as “the Mary of the Gaels”. Until quite recently, I am ashamed to admit, I did not know that there is another saint of the same name, Brigid of Sweden. We celebrate her Feast Day… Read More
Fatima – The Movie
This week I had an opportunity to see the film Fatima, directed by Marco Pontecorvo who said he believes it to be a “subject that can talk to everyone, not only Catholics. It has a meaning, a very powerful meaning, for everyone, not only for believers.” The story centers around three Portuguese children, Lucia dos… Read More
Father of the Reformation: Lutheran church
I usually attend Mass on Saturday evenings so when I was invited by a friend to accompany her to a Lutheran service last Sunday morning, I was delighted to be able to accept. It took place in St Finian’s Church in Adelaide Road which has been a permanent place of worship for the Lutheran congregation… Read More
Anne Frank – A Legacy
Most of us have heard of Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, the best known and most widely read book of the Holocaust. Its author is regarded as a symbol of the one million Jewish children who were murdered because of Adolf Hitler’s Final Solution to what he considered the Jewish Problem. Anne’s… Read More
The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity
Last Sunday I attended a Mass which was celebrated by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell in the Church of Our Mother of Divine Grace in Ballygall. As required by Covid restrictions the number of people in the congregation was limited. Still, it feels good to be back again in the company of others and… Read More
In the World’s Spotlight: Pope Francis
On New Year’s Eve, 2019 Pope Francis made headlines news when he slapped the hand of a woman as he greeted pilgrims at the Vatican. Francis’ patience snapped when the woman suddenly snatched at his hand and yanked him towards her as he reached out to greet a child during a visit to the… Read More
A World without War, Amen
Every war has its iconic images which show the suffering that people endure as a consequence of the aggression. I am thinking of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Photographer Eddie Adams, whose 1968 ‘Saigon Execution’ helped fuel the anti-war movement and end the US involvement in Vietnam. On the front of the paper one day this week… Read More