WMOF 2018 A new series of digital animations and a six-part television series has been launched as part of ongoing preparations for the World Meeting of Families 2018 and the visit of Pope Francis. Both of these new resources focus on Amoris Laetitia, the document written by Pope Francis on love in the family. Amoris Animations The Amoris Animations, the first created…
Category: Feature
The heroism of the habit
Matthew Carlson explores the rise and recession of Belfast’s Poor Clares Nuns are often portrayed in popular media as frail, silent and hidden away from the rest of the world, but the profound story of one religious order in Ireland has flipped that paradigm on its head. The Poor Clares in Belfast were a…
Blessed be the comedians
Colm Fitzpatrick talks to international comedian Tim Vine about God, laughter and his new Irish tour It’s not often that comedy and religion appear together in the same sentence in an Irish context – usually musings of Father Ted or the sketches of the late Dave Allen take that prize – but a famous…
Remembering St John Paul II, it’s time to ‘showcase Ireland’ for papal visit
WMOF 2018 The papal visit this month will be an opportunity to “showcase Ireland” with well over 15,000 people coming from abroad to attend the Word Meeting of Families, the Archbishop of Dublin said at the opening of an exhibition revealing the preparations made for St John Paul II’s visit. Although regretting not being…
Andrea Bocelli highlights value of family
WMOF 2018 Family is the “strongest building block of society” according to Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli who been confirmed to sing at the Festival of Families in Croke Park on August 25. The event is a celebration of family life and is expected to be one of the highlights of the WMOF with Pope…
Papal choir gears up for the big day at Papal Mass
WMOF 2018 More than 2,000 singers from across Ireland gathered in the RDS to do a full run through of the music for the closing Mass of the World Meeting of Families. With the WMOF only weeks away, the massive chorus is gearing up for the real deal on August 26 when they sing…
Family group engages fully with WMOF preparations
WMOF 2018 For the last seven months a Dublin family group has been meeting to pray, sing, dance, engage in discussion and enjoy arts and crafts all in preparation for the World Meeting of Families. The initiative began when the community of the Daughters of Charity who live in St Vincent’s, North William Street,…
Pope Francis, the Church’s future in Ireland and female deacons
Women were ordained as deacons in the past, the question now is will they be in the future, writes Phyllis Zagano Pope Francis arrives in Dublin on August 25 for the World Meeting of Families. That’s the feast of St Louis, the 13th Century French King who left his wife and 11 children at…
Learning to live without limits
Davis Clark and Matthew Carlson The voices of young people singing Party in the USA echoed through the halls of St Catherine’s College in Armagh City last week, marking the final week of the Michaela Foundation hosting their annual summer camps. The charity was set up in memory of Michaela McAreavey who was murdered while on her honeymoon…
We can help make a world in which Christianity can thrive everywhere
Column sponsored by Aid to the Church in Need, Ireland www.acnireland.org At present, Ireland is undergoing a process of cultural cleansing of Catholicism – where even the memory of the Catholic faith is being expunged, save for where a hostile public perception can be catalysed through the media and leveraged for political advantage. The World Meeting…