One of the many joys of the priesthood is sharing bits and pieces of life with brother priests from different countries, cultures and experiences. Recently I’ve spent a lot of time with three African priests from Nigeria, Malawi and Uganda.…

On each one of the past 7 Saturdays I have celebrated Mass for a special occasion, four First Communions, two Weddings and one Jubilee. In between, there have been the ordinary daily Masses, many Funerals, some Baptisms and the celebrations…

Do you remember sitting the Leaving Certificate? All week, at the first mention of the exams starting, I’ve heard people sharing their memories. It seems that no one can quite forget the experience of finishing school, sitting in the examination…

I had an appointment with my GP during the week, a funeral ran a bit overtime, and I had to rush to make it even close to the right time. As I stepped into reception a little flustered, thinking about…

We have had a lot of funerals here in recent months. When I mention that to my own family and friends they often ask, “is the parish very old?”. Of course, they mean are the parishioners mostly in their senior…

This weekend we have a collection for ‘Lay Ministry”, it replaces the traditional collection for the support of students for the priesthood, which we normally had on the Sunday after Good Shepherd Sunday with all its emphasis on vocations. So,…

This weekend is a time for prayers for vocations to the priesthood and the religious life. Every year on Good Shepherd Sunday, in the middle of the Easter Season, we pray that the seed of vocation will awaken a call…

On Holy Thursday Archbishop Farrell distributed a Pastoral Letter to share his thoughts with us on the ‘Building Hope’ process that he started shortly after coming to Dublin. The first step was a consultation that many parishioners here participated in…

Blue skies, bright sunshine and mild days made the days after Easter very suitable for free time with family and friends for a bit of fresh air and fun. I trust that everyone who could was delighted to be out…

Images flash in front of us all day everyday. Some capture a moment of human experience, the camera freezes the action, we see what the photographer observed at the moment the shutter clicked. Maybe you saw an image of an…

During the last month, across the three parishes, we have had many celebrations of Confirmation. To prepare for these special days we first had a ceremony of commitment and then a ceremony of light. For the first of these the…

In the past couple of weeks, we have celebrated anniversary Masses for a few parishioners who died in the early days of COVID 19, two years ago. At the time of the funerals of these dearly loved, and sadly missed…

I went to Irish College in St Michael’s, Omeath, in 1972. I don’t think it was very successful in so far as learning  the language went but a couple of very strong memories remain with me from that experience. The…