RINGING OF CATHEDRAL BELLS ACROSS IRELAND’S DIOCESES TO LAUNCH WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES

RINGING OF CATHEDRAL BELLS ACROSS IRELAND’S DIOCESES TO LAUNCH WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES

This evening, all of Ireland’s 26 dioceses will open the 9th World Meeting of Families simultaneously with a special liturgical ceremony and with the ringing of bells in each of the 26 diocesan cathedrals across the island. Family-friendly festivals are also taking place, according to an announcement about the WMOF agenda from the Irish Bishops’ Conference. The lead ceremony will take place in Dublin.

The schedule for this event held every three years calls for the WMOF Pastoral Congress to take place in the Royal Dublin Society over Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week while the Festival of Families will be celebrated in Croke Park on Saturday afternoon. The Holy Father Pope Francis will join the WMOF celebrations when he visits Ireland on Saturday 25 August. WMOF will culminate with the closing Papal Mass in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, on Sunday next, 26 August.

Tuesday’s opening liturgy in each cathedral will be a full celebration of Evening Prayer. Entitled Le chéile le Críost (Together with Christ), it will gather the Church as the family of families as we set out on the path of celebration for the entire World Meeting of Families. Representatives from each parish will attend their respective cathedral along with international pilgrims.

These liturgical celebrations will remind us that we walk in the footsteps of the saints and those who have handed on the faith to us. The ceremonies will involve singing and praying hymns, psalms and canticles, burning incense and praying for the entire human family before our God and Father. All are welcome!

A sample of some of the diocesan celebrations planned for this evening:

ACHONRY
Event: Opening Ceremony of the World Meeting of Families 2018
Location: Cathedral of the Annunciation and Saint Nathy, Ballaghaderreen, County Roscommon
Time: 8.00pm
Details: This special celebration, on the evening of August 21st, will be a gathering of all twenty-three parishes of the diocese – eleven in County Mayo, eleven in County Sligo, and the Cathedral Parish of Ballaghaderreen in County Roscommon. It will focus on the life of the Venerable Fr. Patrick Peyton, CSC, a native of our diocese, a priest of the Congregation of Sancta Croce (Holy Cross), and known with great international renown as ‘the Rosary Priest’. The evening in the Cathedral will have as its theme the message Fr. Peyton brought to the world, “The family that prays together, stays together” and “A world at prayer is a world at peace.”

ARMAGH
Event: Opening festival followed by music and Evening Prayer
Location: Shambles Market
Times: 5pm- Festival
7pm: Procession
7:30 – 8:15pm: Evening Prayer
Details: Free to all, this festival promises to be a joyful, fun celebration of family, of all ages shapes and sizes and includes live music, dance, bouncy castles, face painting and a wide range of other fun activities. At 7pm there’ll be a procession from the Shambles Market to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, followed by more music and Evening Prayer from 7:30 – 8:15pm.

GALWAY
Event: Opening Ceremony for the World Meeting of Families
Location: Galway Cathedral
Times: 7.30pm
Details: The ceremony will be led by Bishop Brendan Kelly and will include a blessing of families with the relic of Blessed Karl of Austria. Blessed Karl is one of the very few official saints of the Church who was also a husband and father.

LIMERICK
Event: Street Party and Celebration Liturgy
Location: St. John’s Square, Limerick
Times: 3:30 – 6.30 pm: Street Party
7pm: Celebration Liturgy
Details: This event will take place on Tuesday 21st August to welcome Pope Francis and to launch World Meeting of Families. There will be food, face-painting, music and magic followed by a celebration liturgy at St. John’s Cathedral. Admission is free and ALL ARE WELCOME! Under-18s must be accompanied by parent or guardian.

OFFICIAL PRAYER FOR WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES

God, our Father,
We are brothers and sisters in Jesus your Son,
One family, in the Spirit of your love.

Bless us with the joy of love.

Make us patient and kind,
gentle and generous,
welcoming to those in need.
Help us to live your forgiveness and peace.

Protect all families with your loving care,
Especially those for whom we now pray:

[We pause and remember family members and others by name].

Increase our faith,
Strengthen our hope,
Keep us safe in your love,
Make us always grateful for the gift of life that we share.

This we ask, through Christ our Lord,

Amen

Mary, mother and guide, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, father and protector, pray for us.
Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.
Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, pray for us.

WMOF website: https://www.worldmeeting2018.ie/en/

“WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES, A GIFT THE IRISH CHURCH CAN SHARE WITH OTHERS” – POPE FRANCIS’ APOSTOLIC TRIP TO IRELAND

“WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES, A GIFT THE IRISH CHURCH CAN SHARE WITH OTHERS”

An invitation from Dublin’s Archbishop Dairmud Martin:

“We are here to officially announce the programme of the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland on the occasion of the World Meeting of Families together with the details of the Programme for the Family Pastoral Congress that will be held at the RDS in Dublin on the days before the visit of the Pope.

St Mary Pro-Cathedral

Today we launch the programme of the final stage of a process that has been underway for over two years here in Ireland and has reached out to parishes throughout the country through the Amoris pastoral programmes.

My hope is that now the World Meeting of Families – the pastoral preparation, the Pastoral Congress in the RDS and the visit of Pope Francis – will open out for families renewed inspiration, hope and healing.

Ireland

The visit of Pope Francis to the World Meeting of Families in Dublin must not be just a once-off event. It comes as the Church in Ireland struggles to find a new place in Irish society and culture – a very different one from the dominant one it held in the past.

Pope Francis is above all a free man. He shows us we can live in a world where faith seems marginal and yet manage to touch hearts and challenge them to reflect on and discern those fundamental values vital for society. What he does is to find ways in which he can win hearts for what the teaching of Jesus involves, not through imposing and judging, but through winning and attracting.

Pope Francis said to me that he considers the World Meeting of Families as a gift to the Irish Church. His idea, however, is not that we will receive a gift to be placed in a glass-case for ourselves. He looks on the World Meeting of Families as a gift that the Irish Church can then share with others.

Family is about love, no matter how imperfect and failing: it is about a love that enriches lives. I am thinking about the love of spouses, the love of parents for children, the goodness with which families enrich communities. We have great families who would never think of themselves as great: they simply do their best. Where would any of us be without the love and generosity we received from our parents?

I wish to sincerely thank all those in the Church in Ireland and the public authorities all of whom, in their own areas of competence, have made an enormous contribution to ensure that as many people who wish to can take part in the events.

I encourage families to take part in the global event that is World Meeting of Families. I encourage families to take this unique opportunity to see Pope Francis where they can. All are welcome.”

Full details of the Pastoral Programme for the World Meeting of Families in the RDS in Dublin are available here:
http://www.worldmeeting2018.ie

POPE FRANCIS’ APOSTOLIC TRIP TO IRELAND

SATURDAY 25 AUGUST 2018
ROMA-DUBLIN

08:15 Departure by plane from Rome/Fiumicino for Dublin
10:30 Arrival at Dublin International Airport

OFFICIAL WELCOME
10:45 Transfer to Áras an Uachtaráin
11:15 Arrival at the Presidential Residence

WELCOME CEREMONY in front of the main entrance of the Residence
11:30 COURTESY VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT in the Presidential Residence
12:00 Transfer to Dublin Castle
12:10 Arrival at Dublin Castle

MEETING WITH AUTHORITIES, CIVIL SOCIETY AND DIPLOMATIC CORPS in Dublin Castle – Speech of the Holy Father

15:30 ARRIVAL AT ST MARY’S PRO-CATHEDRAL
VISIT to the CATHEDRAL – Greeting of the Holy Father

16:15 Transfer to the Day Centre of the Capuchin Fathers
16:30 PRIVATE VISIT to the DAY CENTRE FOR HOMELESS FAMILIES of the CAPUCHIN FATHERS

19:30 Arrival at Croke Park Stadium
19:45 FESTIVAL OF FAMILIES – Croke Park Stadium – Speech of Holy Father

SUNDAY 26 AUGUST 2018
DUBLIN-KNOCK-DUBLIN-ROMA
08:40 Departure by plane for Knock
09:20 Arrival at the Airport in Knock
Immediate transfer to the Shrine
09:45 Arrival at Knock Shrine
VISIT to the CHAPEL of Knock Shrine

Knock Shrine

ANGELUS on the square in front of the Shrine Angelus of the Holy Father

10:45 Transfer to the airport in Knock
11:10 Arrival at the airport in Knock
11:15 Departure by plane for Dublin
11:50 Arrival at Dublin International Airport
Lunch with the Papal Delegation
14:30 Arrival at Phoenix Park
15:00 HOLY MASS in Phoenix Park – Homily of the Holy Father
MEETING WITH THE BISHOPS in the Convent of the Dominican Sisters – Speech of the Holy Father

18:30 Arrival at Dublin International Airport
FAREWELL CEREMONY
18:45 Departure by plane for Roma/Ciampino
23:00 Arrival at the Airport of Roma/Ciampino