The World Day of Prayer for Vocations is Sunday, April 22nd 2018. The purpose of this Day of Prayer for Vocations is to publicly celebrate vocations to ordained ministry and religious life in all its forms.  Many parishes and religious institutes commemorate this day with prayer for vocations and vocation promotion events.  2018 marks the 55th Anniversary of the World Day ...

Please Note: Unfortunately, Mount St. Anne’s have had to cancel this event due to insufficient numbers.  Apologies for any disappointment this may cause. A Day of Reflection in Memory of Thomas Merton. Date:  Saturday, 12th May 2018 – 9.30 am to 4.15 pm Venue: Mount St. Anne’s Retreat & Conference Centre, Killinard, Portarlington, (Co. Laois) This event facilitated by Dr. ...

‘Sister India’ is a new documentary by Irish filmmaker Myles O’Reilly, which is currently being screened at a number of film festivals in Ireland and in India.  It tells the story of a 91-year-old Presentation Sister,   Sr. Loreto (Peg) Houlihan who was born near Carrick-on-Suir in Co Tipperary in 1927 and who has spent 70 years teaching in India. Sister ...

Pope Francis has written a new apostolic exhortation on “the call to holiness in the contemporary world”. “Gaudete et Exsultate” is the Latin title of the text, which translated into English means “Rejoice and Be Glad”.  The words are taken from the Gospel of Matthew (5:12) at the end of the discourse on the Beatitudes.  Why should we “rejoice and be glad”?  ...

Wisdom and Wonder: A Day of Reflection in Memory of  Thomas Merton Date:    Saturday 12th May, 2018 | 9.30am – 4.15pm Venue: Mount St. Anne’s Retreat & Conference Centre, Co. Laois.   This event facilitated by Dr. Melanie-Préjean Sullivan is in collaboration with the Margaret Beaufort Institute of  Theology, Cambridge, UK.  The year 2018 marks two significant anniversaries associated with Thomas ...

Come and join us at the Soul Full Cafe, in the  Third Space Café in Smithfield, Dublin 7 on  Friday 13th April from 6.30 pm – 8.30 pm.    This will include a conversation about a remarkable local woman – Teresa Mulally.  The format of the evening will be Mindful Workout with Iseult White, a  ‘Story to Inspire: Local Legend Teresa ...

  I beseech you be gentle. Be gentle to the men & the women and to the children, who hold their life in their hands, like a flower. They have all gathered the flower of life, and because it is gathered it is fading, it fades swiftly, like the loveliness of a candle that is lit. Dying and flowering are ...

Reacting to the announcement that Pope Francis will attend the WMOF2018 in August, the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference said: “On behalf of the faithful of Ireland we warmly welcome today’s announcement, by the Holy Father himself, that he plans to visit Dublin in August for the World Meeting of Families.  We are deeply honoured that Pope Francis will come to our ...

‘Promoting tolerance, inclusion, unity and respect for diversity in the context of combating racial discrimination’  is the theme for this year’s International Day for the elimination of racial discrimination on 21 March. We only have to watch the local and world news to realise that racism, xenophobia and intolerance are problems prevalent in all societies.  Discriminatory practices are widespread, particularly ...

Today, it is the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.  A time of rebirth. This marks the first day of the astronomical Spring.  At this  time of equinox the Sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night is nearly equal. Even if you didn’t already know this, there is a sense in these recent mornings ...