Courtney McGrailPortlaoise parish is to celebrate a novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help between Saturday, February 28 and Sunday, March 8.
Parish Priest Msgr John Byrne has invited people to make a commitment to participate in what curate Fr Paddy Byrne calls a “novena of hope”. Describing Portlaoise as a place with a lively faith, Fr Byrne says he expects thousands to participate.
Guest celebrants from all over Ireland will lead each day of the novena, addressing such afflictions of modern Irish life as anxiety, depression, and addiction, all raised in the thousands of petitions gathered ahead of the novena.
Rapper and former addict Wally O’Loughlin will be just one of those offering a personal testimony of hope during the Lenten novena, with other testimonies being given by people who have recovered from cancer, and former Taoiseach John Bruton speaking on the positive contribution people can make to their communities.