It was the middle of May and my oldest daughter had heard me talking about the Sacrament of Confirmation a lot in recent weeks. One day in the car she said to me: “I thought about my own Confirmation. I nearly crashed the car – she had only just made her first Holy Communion last…
After two years of celebrating the most important week in our liturgical calendar behind closed doors, we are finally to welcome people back into church. How lucky are we! I mentioned this at a recent parent meeting for those whose children wish to be confirmed. Many blank faces looked back at me. I wondered, did…
Over the past few weeks, parishes all around Ireland have been organising listening sessions to give as many people as possible the opportunity to share their thoughts and experience of the Church as part of the synodal path. At the same time many parishes are back to the ‘conveyor belt’ mentality for Sacraments of First…
This was supposed to be a happy family gathering. My granny turned 98 at the end of February. Like most years we travelled to Germany to visit her and celebrate another milestone in her life. I love what Pope Francis says about grandparents: “…because they have the strength and are of the age to carry…
“I wish it was Tuesday already. Can we please skip the days in between?” It is my daughter’s birthday next week and while her excitement is nearly too much for her to handle, hearing those words nearly creates a knot in my stomach. Skipping a day or two, even a year or two brings back memories…
For some reason the last week felt very long. When Friday night, February 4, finally came last week I found myself sitting at the kitchen table, in front of the laptop, watching the live stream from the synodal path in Germany. It was the third out of four major gatherings taking place in Frankfurt/Main. I…
“After 39 years it is time to hand it over to someone else.” These are the words of a 80-year-old parishioner who has been in charge of the parish shop for half her life. A Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) member for over 12 years recently said, “If I don’t do it, who else will do…
“Happy New Year” I said to a parishioner coming out of church. Seeing his reaction, I added; “It is only a few days old, I presume we are still ok wishing each other a Happy New Year.” He stopped, looked at me and replied. “Oh yeah. Many returns.” I had to smile about this short…
Like many other families we went for a walk after Christmas. The rain from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day had turned the streets/paths into a pool of puddles to the delight of my children. It was a fantastic distraction as they would walk five kilometres easily jumping from puddle to puddle. As the children were…
“Lily please stand up,” I asked my daughter during Sunday Mass. Her reply: “Mammy, I don’t want to. You know I am not into it like you are!” This happened to me a while ago. My youngest daughter wanted to sit when others stood, she sat when others kneeled. When I encouraged her (at the…