Parishes must be like early Christian communities which reach out to help, Colm Fitzpatrick learns Churches are often referred to as the ‘heart of a community’, but in order for this living, breathing muscle to continue to beat, the parish must sustain and support it. This is no easy task; and requires more than…
There was “great excitement” in a Dublin parish as their long-awaited new altar was dedicated by the Archbishop of Dublin. After decades of using a temporary altar over 300 parishioners gathered for the ceremony in Sallynoggin parish earlier this month. Parish secretary Rachel Higgins said: “There was great excitement in the parish and an overwhelming…
This month saw the culmination of festivities at St Conleth’s church, where the people of Newbridge’s parish came together on his Feast Day to mark the 1,500th anniversary of his death and to celebrate the vibrant parish life that still exists in his name today. The weekend of celebrations began with Mass where Kildare and…
Vocations Sunday Supplement 2019 Joining a religious order could be the best decision you ever make, writes Colm Fitzpatrick There’s an old, well-known joke about how different religious communities are constantly competing with one another, vying to decide which order is the best. It goes something like this: a Franciscan and a Dominican were…
Vocations Sunday Supplement 2019 A former soccer international is set to form Ireland’s next generation of Dominican priests, writes Greg Daly Every vocation story is special – God calls each of us as unique individuals with distinct tasks unique to us, after all – but among Ireland’s more recent vocation stories, that of Fr…
Students give a day-to-day reflection on a recent pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi by the Catholic chaplaincy at Queen’s University, Belfast, led by Fr Gerard Magee DAY 1 – Oisin McHugh We started off our day with a trip to the St John Lateran Cathedral in Rome. Known as the “Mother and head of…
Realising that the planet is on the brink of a precipice that can only be stopped by the actions of humans who need an “ecological conversion”, is an idea that can’t be understated according to several prominent academics. Over the weekend more than 100 people gathered in the Dromantine Conference Centre in Co. Down for…
Tours can open up our Irish history in new ways, writes Colm Fitzpatrick Historical and religious tours can often be reduced to drab, monotonous circuits where bland facts are reeled off one after the other, with the enthusiasm of a teetotaller at an open bar. Putting a twist on this all too common experience,…
European countries need to face their challenges head on, Greg Daly is told Given Hungary’s history following the Second World War and its key role in the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, it makes sense that it would be opposed to any hardening of the Irish border in the aftermath of Brexit,…
Vatican II is only just beginning to bear fruit, Colm Fitzpatrick is told No other event springs faster to mind when conversing about radical changes in the Church than the occasion of the Second Vatican Council; an event which continues to reverberate in the hearts and minds of Christians today. With well over 50…
Colm Fitzpatrick
Chai Brady
Greg Daly