Greg Daly
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin The presence of an “ad hoc Door of Mercy” was a huge surprise to the thousands who visited the Divine Mercy Conference in the RDS, Dublin last weekend.
Praising Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s decision to allow the conference a temporary holy door, Don Devaney told The Irish Catholic “the Holy Door had a continuous queue, with people delighted with the opportunity of a full plenary indulgence.
“It was a big surprise, as we hadn’t announced it,” he explained. “We made an announcement on the day, telling people what the conditions for the indulgence were, and people were delighted. It was a tremendous gesture on the archbishop’s part.”
This year’s conference, Mr Devaney said, saw record numbers attending, with about 1800 people coming along for a Friday night introduction to the conference organised by young Catholics from various groups. The free-of-charge evening, centred on Mass celebrated by Fr John Harris OP along with Confession and Adoration, was “incredible” and “very prayerful”, he said.
Young people
“A lot who came on Friday night came back for the whole weekend,” he said, noting that young people were far more noticeable at the conference than ever before. 4,000 people attended on Saturday, he said, 500 more than last year, with 3,000 attending on Sunday. Overall, he said, “most people – about 80% – came for the full weekend”.
There was a “great sense of peace through the whole weekend” Mr Devaney said, with an all-Irish line-up going down especially well. Saturday’s talks by Frances Hogan, Fr Pat Collins, and Sr Briege McKenna “dovetailed into each other” around the theme of forgiveness, he said, as did Fr Michael Ross’ address and Archbishop Martin’s homily.
Sr Concilio’s words on how she’s learned about forgiveness over the years were especially powerful, Mr Devaney said, with papal nuncio Archbishop Charles Brown’s “inspirational homily on being apostles of mercy” bring things to a fine close.