Tag Archives: News

Mount St. Anne’s Retreat & Conference Centre nestles in the very beautiful pastoral landscape of the midlands with distant views of the Wicklow/Dublin mountains to the east and the gentle slope of the Slieve Blooms to the south, combined with rolling parkland and stately trees to create an atmosphere of serenity.  One has the strong sense that the very walls and ...

The momentum is building as we are on Day 5 of the count down to the start of the #WYD2023 in Lisbon Portugal from 1-6 August 2023.  The energy and excitement is almost palpable on all media platforms with a very real sense of a global and local network of joy-filled young people making this pilgrimage. Let us go in ...

On 10th July the UN issued The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023: Special Edition which provides a powerful call to action, presenting a candid assessment of the SDGs based on the latest data and estimates.  While on 17th July a group of economists and leaders in the fight against extreme inequalities from around the world sent an open letter to ...

As the Third World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly approaches on Sunday, 23 July the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life renews its invitation for Christians to celebrate the event by attending Mass or visiting those who are alone. Sunday, 23 July, marks the Third World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. The theme chosen for this year is  ...

The extraordinary synodal journey is not one that the Catholic Church is embarking on alone. The recently published Instrumentum Laboris – working document – for the forthcoming October assembly in Rome devotes a whole section to Christian unity and how the Catholic Church can learn from other traditions.  Pope Francis has emphasised, the synod is not about producing documents but ...

On the 13th June (Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Patron of the Poor) Pope Francis published his Message for the 7th Annual World Day of the Poor, on Sunday 19th November, 2023.  The theme for this year’s Message is:  “Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor” (Tob 4:7)  This Message is a reflection on the Book of ...

The image of a heart has a resonance with everyone – young and old alike.  Poetically, and cross-culturally in the contemporary world of today the heart is a symbol of the human centre — our emotions, loves, passions, desires, a source and engine for life-giving actions. The heart has the capacity and potential to open us to care for all ...

How do we, as individuals and as an ecclesial community, live in the digital world  “loving our neighbour”, genuinely present and attentive to each other on our common journey along the “digital highways”? “Towards Full Presence” is the title of a document released by the Dicastery for Communication that offers a pastoral reflection on people’s engagement in the digital world. ...

Today, May 31st 2023, we place the Church’s entire synodal process especially the work of the 16th ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (which will take place in Rome this October) under the protection of Mary, Mother of the Church, mother of all those who are companions and disciples of her son – ‘Our Lady of the Way’. ...

On Thursday 25 May ahead of the 2023 celebration of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (on 1 September) Pope Francis chose the theme “Let Justice and Peace Flow,” inspired by the words of the prophet Amos: “Let justice flow on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.” This Message by Pope Francis is a ...