Call
 for
 WMOF
 Eucharistic
 ministers

The Archdiocese of Dublin has called for 4,000 Eucharistic ministers to serve at the final mass at the WMOF. According to the archdiocese, because the majority of the communion will be given out on grassy, bumpy areas of the park, applicants must be “trained and functioning ministers of the Holy Communion” as well as “steady…

Vatican Roundup

Pope accepts
 resignation
 of 
accused
 Honduran 
bishop Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Juan José Pineda, auxiliary bishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, following a Vatican investigation into accusations of financial mismanagement and sexual misconduct against seminarians. The bishop, 57, has long been the subject of accusations of financial misdealings, as well as rumours that he offered support to a male companion…

Future of parish to be key focus after Papal visit

Organisers of a key conference on breathing life into Irish parishes hope the visit of Pope Francis can give new energy to a more lay-led vision of Church reform. The two-day conference on the Future of the parish in Ireland is being hosted by the Irish Institute for Pastoral Studies based at MIC St Patrick’s…

Young people facing adversity are focus of Synod of Bishops

Pope Francis has chosen four cardinals from countries where young people are facing special challenges to preside over sessions of the Synod of Bishops in October. The Vatican announced on July 14 the Pope’s appointment of the presidents-delegate: Cardinals Louis Sako of Baghdad, the Chaldean patriarch; Desire Tsarahazana of Toamasina, Madagascar; Charles Bo of Yangon,…

The Pope in search of the Church’s future

The Quiet Revolution of Pope Francis: A Synodal Catholic Church in Ireland? by Gerry O’Hanlon SJ (Messenger Publications,  €12.95) Peter
 Hegarty   “It is through the clash of ideas in public debate that truth emerges,” Gerry O’Hanlon observes in a favourable overview of the reforms undertaken and envisaged by Pope Francis. He writes of the slow emergence of…

Knock Shrine launches first ever prayer book

Just in time for Pope Francis’ official visit next month, Ireland’s National Marian Shrine in Knock, Co. Mayo, has launched its first ever exclusive collection of prayers. The beautiful Knock Prayer Book is a collection of brand new prayers composed by Fr Richard Gibbons, rector at Knock Shrine for over five years, and carefully chosen…