Young people were going to Confession on street corners and park benches throughout Lisbon during World Youth Day, but in the 150 plywood confessionals set up in Vasco da Gama Garden three of them found themselves face to face with Pope Francis. Donning a purple stole, the Pope heard their confessions in the riverside garden,…
Before a sea of waving flags representing countries large and small from across the globe, Pope Francis told some 500,000 singing, shouting and swaying young people that God has called each person to him by name, not their social media handle. “You are not here by mistake,” he told the mass of people in Lisbon’s…
Andrew Atherstone explains how a local discipleship course became a global brand, writes Ruadhán Jones Back in the early 1970s, when a small group of Christians began a local discipleship course in London, they couldn’t have expected this mustard seed would grow quite so substantially. But it did, becoming the Alpha course for Christian…
The Capuchin Day Centre continues to save lives, the new CEO tells Audrey Bryce “One of the primary values here is nonjudgment,” says Brian Friel, newly appointed CEO of the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin. Brian Friel entered the public recruitment campaign and says he is “very thankful” to have been named the centre’s CEO…
Mixed-religion marriages often present unique challenges in passing on the Faith In a mixed marriage someone has to compromise, and that someone was me. I married a Muslim man in 1995 oblivious to the challenges our religions would present in the future. I was living and working in Spain at the time. We met in…
Audrey Bryce Our modern world is often overwhelmed by external distractions so much so that we fail to find peace within our own minds. Director of Westminster Abbey Institute Claire Gilbert demonstrates the importance of self-reflection through her story of the late Julian of Norwich (1342–c. 1416) in her fictional biography, I, Julian, that was…
July 2, 2023, will remain in the memory of all who joined the Marist Sisters for Mass in St Mary’s Parish Church, Carrick-on-Shannon, as they celebrated the 150th anniversary of the sisters arrival in Co. Leitrim. Mass was concelebrated by the newly appointed Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois Paul Connell along with local clergy, Marist…
Many of us in Ireland would remember from times past a family member serving overseas with the Church—an aunt, uncle, brother or sister who would share stories of their missionary work while back home every few years on leave. But did you know that there are still hundreds of Irish missionaries working around the world,…
“In some ways it seems like yesterday,” says Fr Michael Kiernan about his ordination to the priesthood 50 years ago, June 3, 1973. In other ways though, “it seems like 500 years ago”, he adds. Born and raised in Lettergullion, a townland near Ballinamuck, Co. Longford, Fr Kiernan studied for the priesthood in the former…
Audrey Bryce The movie is better than the book is one sentence that is not generally spoken. How often is a film considered better than the book on which it was entirely based? Well, in 2018 authors Greg Laurie and Ellen Vaughn delineated an inspiring story of mass spiritual revival in their novel Jesus Revolution…
Michael Kelly
Ruadhán Jones