Thanksgiving Mass after Canonisation of two Popes
Posted on 23. Apr, 2014 by John Coughlan in Uncategorized
Thanksgiving Mass for pilgrims travelling from Ireland to Rome for the Canonisation of Blessed Pope John XXIII and Blessed Pope John Paul II
Monday, 28th April 2014 at 16.00
Basilica di Santa Maria in Domnica alla Navicella
There will be an opportunity for pilgrims travelling from Ireland to Rome for the Canonisation of Blessed Popes John XXIII and John Paul II to give thanks to God together at a special Mass on the day after the Canonisation. Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland will be the principal celebrant of the Mass, in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Domnica, which is close to the Irish College. Pilgrims will be welcome to visit the Irish College for light refreshments after the Mass.
To view the location of the Church and its relation to the Irish College on google maps, click here.
Lent 2014 – College Charity: Papal Almonry
Posted on 21. Mar, 2014 by John Coughlan in Carousel
This year, the Irish College seminarians have decided to dedicate the College’s Lenten charity to the work of the Papal Almoner, the Elemosiniere, Archbishop Konrad Kajewski. This will be a chance to contribute directly to Pope Francis’s outreach to the poor. There will be collection boxes in the loggia, and so it will be possible for all who come to 10am Mass on Sundays to make a contribution.
‘Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling them to be fully a part of society. This demands that we be docile and attentive to the cry of the poor and to come to their aid. A mere glance at the Scriptures is enough to make us see how our gracious Father wants to hear the cry of the poor: “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them… so I will send you…” (Ex 3:7-8, 10). We also see how he is concerned for their needs: “When the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up for them a deliverer” (Jg 3:15). If we, who are God’s means of hearing the poor, turn deaf ears to this plea, we oppose the Father’s will and his plan; that poor person “might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt” (Dt 15:9). A lack of solidarity towards his or her needs will directly affect our relationship with God: “For if in bitterness of soul he calls down a curse upon you, his Creator will hear his prayer” (Sir 4:6). The old question always returns: “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods, and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” (1 Jn 3:17). Let us recall also how bluntly the apostle James speaks of the cry of the oppressed: “The wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts” (5:4).’
– Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii gaudium, paragraph 187
Thanks to all who contributed to this collection. The total amount collected was €2,360.89.
The Irish College charity officer for 2013-14 meeting with Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, the Papal Almoner, to present him with the proceeds of the Irish College Lenten charity campaign for 2014.
St Patrick’s Day 2014
Posted on 09. Mar, 2014 by John Coughlan in Carousel
St Patrick’s Day 2014
In the morning, the St Patrick’s Day Mass for the Irish community in Rome and visitors was celebrated in St Isidore’s Church, Via Degli Artisti, 41, at 10.30. Monsignor Ciarán O’Carroll, Rector was the principal celebrant.
This year, there was a celebration of Vespers in the College Chapel at 19.30, followed by entertainments and refreshments afterwards. A visiting choir, Cór na nÓg Caisleán Ruairí from Rostrevor, Co. Down, led by Dr Eibhlis Farrell, performed at the entertainments after.
To see photographs from the day, click here.
A Time for Parishioners 8 – 12 Sept 2014
Posted on 09. Mar, 2014 by John Coughlan in Uncategorized
The Joy of the Gospel
Family, Church and Pope Francis: A course for Parishioners
8th – 12th September 2014
During these days in the city of the apostles Peter and Paul, participants will be afforded an opportunity to reflect on Pope Francis’ call to live the Joy of the Gospel. The week includes a series of talks, liturgies and guided visits to significant Churches and Basilicas in Rome, a day of spiritual recollection and reflection as well as a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Francis at Assisi and an opportunity to attend a General Audience with Pope Francis.
Presentations will be given by the following:
- Msgr. Ciarán O’Carroll (Pontifical Irish College, Rome) will visit St. Peter’s Basilica, the Basilica of St. John Lateran and the Church of St. Peter in Chains, drawing together the theme of family in the early centuries of Christian life in Rome.
- Dr Patricia Kieran (Mary Immaculate College, Limerick) will examine the Pope’s Apostolic Exhortation and its implications for faith formation and the family.
- Fr. Tom Norris (Pontifical Irish College, Rome) will lead a reflection on ‘The Art of Loving – the Secret for Church and Family’.
- Fr. George Hayes (Pontifical Irish College, Rome) will look at the use of art and the aesthetic in nurturing one’s relationship with God.
- Fr. Hugh Clifford (Pontifical Irish College, Rome) will offer insights into the area of family, vocation and formation.
The cost of the course is €750. Places are limited. A deposit of €300 is required to secure a place. Travel arrangements to Rome are the responsibility of participants but airport transfers to the College are included in the price. Rooms are en-suite with meals half board. Those who wish to arrive early or remain following the conclusion of the course are welcome to do so subject to the availability of rooms.
If you wish to reserve a place, please telephone the Irish College on the main office number at 00 39 06 772 631 or email ufficio@irishcollege.org
Pontifical Irish College, Via Dei S.S. Quattro, 1, 00184 Rome
Doctoral Defence
Posted on 24. Feb, 2014 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Congratulations to Fr Enda Murphy (pictured above) of the Diocese of Kilmore, a former seminarian and postgraduate student of the Irish College, who successfully defended his doctorate at the Pontifical Athenaeum San Anselmo on 24th February 2014. His thesis is entitled ‘Ritus ad Catechumenos Faciendos: A liturgical-theological study of the rite of acceptance into the order of catechumens in the Ordo Initiationis Christianae Adultorum’.
Admission to Candidacy & Golden Jubilee
Posted on 19. Feb, 2014 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Admission to Candidacy for Diaconate and Priesthood
and Golden Jubilee of Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop Dermot Clifford
Two seminarians of the Pontifical Irish College, Rome, Conor McCarthy of Down and Connor and Marius O’Reilly of Cork and Ross, were admitted to Candidacy for Ordination to Diaconate and Priesthood by Cardinal Seán Brady at Mass in the College Chapel on Wednesday, 19th February 2014. Pictured (left to right) are: Fr Thomas Norris (Spiritual Director), Fr Hugh Clifford (Director of Formation), Archbishop Dermot Clifford (Cashel), Marius O’Reilly (new Candidate), Bishop Francis Duffy (Ardagh and Clonmacnois), Cardinal Seán Brady (Armagh), Monsignor Ciarán O’Carroll (Rector), Stephen Duffy (College Master of Ceremonies), Fr George Hayes (Vice Rector), Conor McCarthy (new Candidate). Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop Dermot Clifford, alumni of the College, and now College Trustees, are celebrating the golden jubilee of their ordination to the Priesthood in the Lateran Basilica on 22nd February 1964.
To see photographs of the occasion, click here.
Homily of Cardinal Seán Brady at the Mass
Some years ago I was in Springfield, Illinois, USA. There they proudly boast of one Barack Obama. He had come to the city for a visit in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln to declare his candidacy for the presidency of the United States of America, on the steps of the State Building. This evening we gather to witness Conor and Marius being admitted as Candidates for something far more important and enduring – candidates for sacred orders. In bygone years, the McCarthys were princes of Munster in Cork, but Conor’s branch obviously moved north to Down and Connor in Ulster! While the O’Reillys were princes of Breifne in Ulster, before Marius’s family moved south to Cork!
In any case, we are here to support these ‘princes’ Marius and Conor with our prayer as they declare their desire to be ordained deacons and priests. I know they have prayed and reflected long and hard about this decision. They have shown by their lifestyle that they are willing to match their words with their action, as students, as they generously place their many gifts and their talents at the service of the Lord and at the service of the poor and of the College community in many ways over recent years. We rejoice and congratulate them on being called. We are glad to be here to accompany them with our prayer that they not only be aware of the presence of the Lord in their lives at all times but that the Lord may fill their hearts with joy as they encounter him once more in this decisive step on their vocational journey.
When Archbishop Clifford and I came here in the year of Our Lord 1960. Good Pope John XXIII was Pope. There was no ceremony of Admission to Candidacy for Sacred Orders. Instead, there was a ceremony of Tonsure, which involved a cutting of hair. Pope John thought it would be a good idea if those who had received Tonsure when getting a haircut would get the barber to shave a spot on the head to indicate our trust in the Lord and our commitment. It did not last long but I think that we can still reflect by our lives our commitment to the poor and all God’s people.
Today the 19th of February I celebrate 19 years as a Bishop. I’m pleased that Fr Michael Toner, the diocesan secretary and Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Armagh is here, as well as Fr Brian McCanny, former student and Director of Formation in the College and of course Francis Hand, whom I congratulate on his recent institution as an Acolyte, and Bishop Francis Duffy, the new Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois. So this is a day of humble prayer and for forgiveness for my many failings in situations and for opportunities missed.
After 19 years of celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation, I now realise now more clearly how the Spirit comes over and over again:
-to make us more fully Sons of God the Father
– to make us become more clearly brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ
– to enable us become all the more temples of the Holy Spirit and enlivened by this Gift
– to make us full members of the Church
and finally, something dear to the heart of Pope Francis, to send us forth as missionaries to bring Good News.
The Word of God as usual throws so much light on what is going on here. The Church, the Body of Christ is called to continue the Ministry of Christ, especially his healing ministry each day. We strive to let Christ heal our own blindness and to open our eyes to the wonders of his loving plan for us. In this evening’s Gospel Jesus gradually restored his sight to the blind man of Bethsaida. In the same way Jesus gradually reveals to each one of us his plan for us and prepares us to assume our responsibilities, and to play our part and do the work that we have been placed on the Earth to do. In the Gospel we heard, some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him to touch him.
Conor and Marius, so much of your life’s work will be just that: bringing people to Jesus so that they can see and touch him, bringing people who cannot see Jesus, those who cannot see meaning or purpose in their lives, letting him touch their minds with his truth and to touch their hearts with his love. It is his work. When all is said and done we are only God’s instruments. A couple of questions suggested themselves to me from this Gospel.
Why did Jesus lead the blind man out of the village of Bethsaida to work the miracle outside the village? Why did he send him home with the order, “Don’t even go into the village”? Was it because the villagers were not ready for the kind of Messiah Jesus was going to be? Was there a chance that they would not understand and therefore that they would refuse him and reject it? What is that saying about our own lives as Priests, Deacons and Bishops – in preparing people to receive Jesus and to welcome him, to recognise him and to announce him.
I am delighted that Archbishop Clifford and I can be together here in Rome this week as we prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our Ordination to the Priesthood in the Lateran Basilica on Saturday 22nd February 1964. There were 11 in our class. Three have died. May they rest in peace. One is a Benedictine monk and the rest of us are struggling on as best we can towards eternity. On a day like this we give thanks first of all to God the giver of all good gifts and to our parents and families and dioceses, and to our colleagues, to our various alma maters, but especially on this occasion to the loving mother, the Irish College, to its staff and students. I spent 16 years of my 50 years of priesthood here. One of the outstanding events was the canonisation of St Oliver Plunkett, a past student of the College, ordained for the Diocese of Meath. He had spent many years in this city teaching. He had a difficult time as Archbishop of Armagh and suffered martyrdom for his faith on the scaffold at Tyburn in 1681. Another happy occasion was the Beatification of Dom Columba Marmion, another past student of the College, ordained for the Archdiocese of Dublin, who later became a Benedictine monk and Abbot of Maredsous and a master of the spiritual life and the encounter with Christ. Another great event is coming up, the Canonisation of Blessed John Paul II, who visited the College and visited our homeland very early on in his long Pontificate. All of this reminds us that the purpose of our being priests is to direct ourselves and others to holiness and to Sainthood.
My good wishes go to the Rector, staff, and community of the College. Let’s keep with what St James advises in this evening’s first reading, what God the Father considers to be pure and unspoilt religion, which is to care for the orphans and widows and those suffering and to keep oneself from being contaminated by the world. Conor and Marius, I think that the pastoral work which you have undertaken lives up to this. You have devoted yourselves to pure unspoilt religion ahead of passing pleasures. We wish you well for the future. Buon proseguimento! Blessings and joy now on the road to Ordination.
Ministry of Acolyte 2014
Posted on 19. Jan, 2014 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Two seminarians of the Pontifical Irish College, Rome, were instituted in the Ministry of Acolyte by Cardinal Walter Kasper, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, on Sunday, 19th January 2014. The new Acolytes are: Francis Hand (Archdiocese of Armagh) and Daniel Gallagher (Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora).
The photograph taken after the Mass shows: (Left to right) Fr Tom Norris (Spiritual Director), Fr Hugh Clifford (Director of Formation), Mr Daniel Gallagher (new Acolyte), Cardinal Walter Kasper (President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity), Mr Francis Hand (new Acolyte), Mr Stephen Duffy (Master of Ceremonies), Fr George Hayes (Vice Rector), Monsignor Ciarán O’Carroll (Rector).
To see more photographs of the occasion, click here.
Homily of Cardinal Walter Kasper,
President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
at the Institution of Acolytes,
Pontifical Irish College, Rome,
Sunday, 19th January 2014
Dear friends!
The wonderful Gospel passage of this second Sunday of Ordinary Time within the liturgical year is exactly the best you could find for this celebration of installation to the ministry of acolytes. It is a passage which played an important role also in my personal biography and in my vocation to become a priest. As the first disciples of Christ remembered the exact hour, it was about four o’clock in the afternoon, I remember the sermon I heard on this passage when I was about sixteen years old.
The first disciples heard the words of John the Baptizer, “There is the Lamb of God!” But they were still unsure. Timidly they followed Jesus, and when Jesus turned to them and asked them, “What are you looking for?” they answered, a little perplexed: “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Jesus told them only: “Come and see!”
“Come and see!” That’s also the invitation to you, who will be installed in this celebration as acolytes. Though the term acolyte doesn’t occur directly in the Bible, indirectly it occurs very often. Jesus called all his first disciples: Akolouthei moi! This means: “Follow me!” And they, as the Gospel of today tells us, when they heard the call of Jesus, without any further questions and dispute, stood up, left everything and followed Jesus wherever he went. So an acolyte is a follower of Jesus.
My dear friends, you have heard this call already in your Baptism and in your Confirmation. Now the call is repeated: Jesus says to you: “I want you.” Now the call becomes more intensive, more urgent, more concrete. Jesus invites you to stay with him. He wants you as his housemates and his friends. Friendship is not only a matter of sentiments, not only a matter of nice comradeship. To be a friend means to share the same interest, and more: the same values, the same ideals, the same life.
So you have a decision, where you want to stay in your life. It is the decision St Ignatius describes in his Spiritual Exercises, as the decision between two banners: the glory of this world – wealth, career, success. Or, on the other side: apostolic life, what it means to go out and go beyond our own interests, to leave our own home and to live where he is at home, to give up the many beauties of human life and to walk together with him on the narrow and steep way, which finally is the way toward the cross, because the servant cannot be greater than his master. But as we believe, the way of the cross is the way to the new life and joy of Easter.
Pope Francis makes it very clear, when he speaks against fashionable spirituality. He is convinced: Today the Church in the West is in crisis, but our world is in an even deeper crisis and cannot find a way out. Post-modernity is dissolving and dismantling modernity. In this situation it does not help to assimilate to the world. We cannot make an impression when we do and behave as everybody does and behaves; that’s known and boring. We must indicate the Christian alternative as a way out of the crisis, a way towards the future. He, Jesus Christ, is this future. He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore be followers of Him. Be good acolytes.
There is still a second meaning of acolyte. The Greek term akolouthein means “to accompany”. An acolyte is a good companion. A companion is the contrary of an individualist or an egoist. A companion is not a single, as many are today. A companion does not think and behave in terms of the I but of the We, and this makes a big difference. To be closed within ourselves makes us sick and pathological. It is like a room, where the windows are never opened up; then the room smells grubby and musty.
As acolytes you are companions and helpers of the priest and deacon during the liturgy. Acolytes light the candles, prepare the altar, present bread and wine for the Eucharist. These seem to be mere simple external things. Yes they are, and as altar boys you already did it many times. But there is a deeper meaning. As officially instituted acolytes you become companions of the priest in order to grow and mature to be a member of the community of those who are called to serve and to assist the people of God.
We call them the clergy. This term clergy can easily be misunderstood and indeed it is often misunderstood as a caste of privileged men in a highly respected position above the others. These times of clericalism are definitely over. Thanks be to God. Clergy in the Biblical sense means another thing. Clergy is the portion of the communion of believers called to be in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, servants of the community. Christ did not come to be served but to serve. He, though being divine in nature emptied himself, taking the nature of a slave and did the work of a slave when he served at table and washed the feet of his disciples. The feet, not the head!
An acolyte is one who learns to grow and to mature, to accompany people, to be a good friend of them and to serve them. This starts now with small and simple things, small and simple services. So, do not think too haughtily of yourself and do not think to be too elevated in order to do small and simple services. The whole everyday life and the everyday happiness of people consist in small and simple things. Hic Rhodos hic salta!
We as clergy have to accompany and share the joy and hope, the grief and the anguish of the men of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted in any way. We have to share the preferential option, renewed and reinforced by Pope Francis, to be a poor Church for the poor, poor in its greatest meaning as physical, cultural, social and spiritual poverty. In this sense, your installation as acolytes means and sends you out to initiate a common walk with the whole people of God, who expect you and need you as helpers and companions of their joy to be Christians.
I wish you a good stay in Jesus’ home and a journey with him, a journey blessed by our Lord, accompanied by the prayers of the whole people of God, a journey of growth and maturation in the footsteps of Our Lord. God bless you all. Amen.
Doctoral Defences
Posted on 09. Jan, 2014 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Congratulations to Fr Stefan Attard (pictured above) and Fr John Herd, both former postgraduate students of the Irish College, who successfully defended their doctorates during December 2013.
Fr John Herd (Archdiocese of Adelaide, Australia) defended his thesis ‘The Family and the Common Good: John Paul II and Benedict XVI’ at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at the Lateran University on 11th December.
Fr Stefan Attard (Archdiocese of Malta) defended his thesis ‘The Structural Scheme Ordering Book II of the Psalter (Psalms 42–72): A Synchronic Analysis’ at the Pontifical Biblical Institute on 12th December.
Happy Christmas!
Posted on 16. Dec, 2013 by John Coughlan in Uncategorized
The community of the Pontifical Irish College, Rome, wishes all visitors to this website a very happy and holy Christmas. Buon Natale! Nollaig shona!
Advent Carol Service 2013
Posted on 12. Nov, 2013 by John Coughlan in Carousel
The annual Advent Carol Service at the Pontifical Irish College took place on Sunday 15th December 2013 at 17.00. A Service of prayer, readings and carols was held in the Chapel and afterwards, everybody went to the front hall to sing along to Christmas carols, led by a choir drawn from the Irish College community. Everybody shared in refreshments then before going home. The preacher was Irish College Spiritual Director Fr Tom Norris and the presider was the Rector, Monsignor Ciarán O’Carroll.
For photographs of the occasion, and some video clips of the choir singing, click here.