The Sunday Gospel Fr Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap. One of the saddest features of society today is the number of people who are homeless and sleeping rough. But another sort of homelessness is the plight of people who have lost all contact with God. The Gospel today (John 15:1-9) recalls one of the seven great…
The Irish Catholic Vocations Supplement 2021 Dreams Lived Out Through Service Religious orders continue to live out St Joseph’s dream of love and service in Ireland and around the world, writes Jason Osborne All eyes are on St Joseph this year – Pope Francis dedicated the year to him, and the topic of his…
The Sunday Gospel Fr Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap. The Fourth Sunday of Easter each year is known as Vocations Sunday. The Gospel is about Jesus – the Good Shepherd – calling his flock, leading them to pasture and protecting them. We are encouraged to pray for vocations this Sunday. I have to admit that in…
Br Martin Kenneally, Presentation Brothers One of the highlights of Pope Francis’ visit to Ireland in August 2018 was his visit to the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin’s inner city. There, on a daily basis, Brother Kevin Crowley, a freeman of the city, and his team of helpers provide parcels of food, cooked meals, a…
Sr Orla Treacy St Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits has a phrase from his Spiritual Exercises, its known as “the Magis”, literally meaning More. I am not exactly sure what St Ignatius meant by it but it has helped me in my life, at least it has helped me to put a word on…
Who are the Capuchins? As Franciscans we are part of a larger family of Catholic friars, sisters and dedicated laypeople founded by St.’s Francis and Clare of Assisi in the 1200’s. The Capuchins came about when in the 1500’s a group of those friars decided to seek a more radical following of the Gospel according…
You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.” (Psalm 27,8). The Benedictine Community of nuns was founded at Ypres in Belgium in the year 1665, and moved to Kylemore, Connemara, Co. Galway, in 1920. At present we are a community of 10 nuns, each called at…
Vocation literally means a calling. Jules Chevalier, a young Frenchman, born in 1824, heard God calling him to live his Christian life in the service of others. In his life and time that led him first to the diocesan seminary, then to a parish in central France and eventually to founding a religious movement that…
In his recent book, “Let us Dream”, Pope Francis encourages us to allow this very challenging time of pandemic to be a period of growth and discernment in our lives, a time for us as followers of Jesus, to look anew at our busy lives and to see if we need to make changes. He…
A Time of Great Change Every few generations there comes a time of great change. A time when the challenges faced in the world bring humanity collectively, to the brink of despair. A time when many feel sure that “this is the end”. For the current generations, living through the COVID-19 Pandemic, that time is…