Image:www.catholicnewsagency.com This week on Tuesday the 23rd we celebrated the feast day of St Rose of Lima who was the first canonized saint of the Americas. She was born in Lima in 1585, the eleventh child of Spanish Indian parents. From her earliest days, she showed an awareness of God and His Son Jesus. When… Read More
Category: Church News
A Glance Behind Peter’s Pence
A Glance Behind Peter’s Pence Last Sunday at Mass the second collection which is usually for Share was replaced by one for ‘Peter’s Pence’. This is an annual suggested offering which is taken up throughout the Catholic world either on 29 June, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, or on the Sunday closest to… Read More
Defender of the Faith: Then and Now
Image:neemopani.com Last weekend was a very special one for the citizens of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland as they observed 4 days of celebration to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. She is the longest-reigning monarch in British History with the previous record-holder being her great-great-grandmother, Victoria who was on the throne… Read More
The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Image: www.olmcsandiego.org Next week we celebrate the lovely feast of the Visitation when Mary went to visit her much older cousin, Elizabeth. This came about because Gabriel, the Angel who told her she was to be the mother of Jesus also gave her more extraordinary news when he said Elizabeth was going to have a… Read More
The Good Shepherd
Image:shcct.com Last weekend on 8 May the Church celebrated the Fourth Sunday of Easter which is also called Good Shepherd Sunday. Even in these industrial and technological times, the image of the Shepherd is an instantly recognisable one. The Shepherd is the person who looks after the sheep and traditionally protects them from predators, animals,… Read More
The Annunciation of the Lord
Image:www.reddit.com Mach 25th, marks the Feast of the Annunciation, where the Archangel Gabriel, with Mary, begins the journey of Christianity. This is the moment when God’s decision to break into human history is revealed to the person who is essential for its progression. As Jesus came to earth to do the father’s will, Mary… Read More
The Desert Road: Lent
This week on Wednesday the Church began its Lenten journey with the distribution of the ashes at Masses. These are a reminder that our life here is not forever. On this day we start to put into practice the promises we have made, whether to abstain from or take up, various things as we move… Read More
St Peter and His Chair
Image:www.ncregiste.com This week, on Tuesday 22 February, we celebrated a feast with an unusual and intriguing name, The Chair of Saint Peter. However, whatever it may sound like this has nothing to do with a piece of furniture, even though there is a physical object with the same name. More anon! We all know who… Read More
The Consecrated Life
On 2 February the Catholic Church celebrates the World Day For Consecrated Life. Pope St John Paul instituted this annual observance marking it for the first time in 1997. It is celebrated in conjunction with the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas Day. This commemorates the presentation of Christ in… Read More
Pope Francis Formalises Recognition of Roles
Since Francis, succeeded to the Chair of Peter on 13 March 2013 there has been a perception in many quarters that he is or would be a somewhat ‘liberal’ pontiff. This may have come about because of the undoubted ‘conservatism’ of his immediate predecessors, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. However, it… Read More
The Princess Nun – St Margaret of Hungary, O.P.
Today the Dominican Order Celebrates the Feast Day of the Princess Nun, St. Margaret of Hungary, O.P. St. Margaret, was the first daughter of King Bela IV, champion of Christendom, and Queen Mary Lascaris of Hungary, and was offered to God before her birth, in petition that the country would be delivered from… Read More
Dying for the Faith- Red Wednesday
These days there is much written and spoken about how faith and the observance and practise of religion has greatly declined, especially among the younger generation. Sometimes we forget to be grateful for the fact that those of us who do want to go to Church and pray with our fellow believers have the… Read More
The Gentle Queen- St Elizabeth of Hungary
This week on Wednesday, November 17th we celebrated the feast of St Elizabeth of Hungary who was born in Pressburg in 1207, a daughter of the King, Andrew III, and his wife Gertrude who was later murdered. Those were very different times and in infancy, she was betrothed to Louis IV, son of Hermann I,… Read More
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
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
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