Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, Myshall @ 10am

Introduction:

Tomorrow, Monday, September 14^th, is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Titular Feast of this parish of Myshall, the only church in our diocese to enjoy this patronage. Killeshin is dedicated to the Holy Cross. Myshall is dedicated to the Exaltation of the Cross.

This year marks the 250^th Anniversary of the actual building of this church, it’s semiquincentennial. The tradition of ‘Quarantore’ (the Forty-Hour Adoration) goes back, over one hundred years and it’s so lovely to be with you here again to bring it to a conclusion.

The gospel lens is on forgiveness. It’s easy to talk about forgiveness, it’s the forgiving bit that’s hardest to do! This morning’s gospel asks us to forgive from our heart – no if’s, buts or maybes; just a total, absolute, unconditional forgiveness.

The unforgiving servant in the gospel disturbs us because he sails close to the wind, he could be any of us. This morning’s parable drives the point home – if God is big enough to forgive us, we should be only too ready to forgive one another and maybe most difficult of all, to forgive ourselves.

Let’s pray for that spirit of forgiveness as we honour the 250th Anniversary and draw to a close these precious 40 hours in the presence of the Lord …

• Is tusa Tobar na Trócaire – you are the wellspring of mercy:

A Thiarna, déan trócaire 

• Is tusa Slí na Fírinne – you are the way of Truth: 

A Chríost, déan trócaire

• Bí linn i gconaí, ós ár gcomhair amach – be with us always, showing us the way.                                                         A Thiarna, déan Trócaire

Homily:

We all know Myshall is associated with many saints, some of them sitting in the very seats in front of me this morning; more of them at the heart of culture, sport, folklore that is life here at the foot of Mount Leinster. A few of them recognized by the Universal Church – Finian, Fortchern and Columbanus. His wonderful relic, now a permanent feature of this sacred place. Several priests are interred both inside and outside this church, priests who were in their day shepherds of holiness, helping all of us to do our bit on that road to sainthood.

The Diocesan historian Comerford reminds us that this chapel owes its existence, as many do across the country, to the generosity of local landlords[1]. The site was a swamp but still seen as a generous gift. There are others, more qualified than me, to speak to what this church means to so many.

I can attest that over the 250 years it has been the place where loved ones found consolation, where sacred vows were exchanged, where sacraments were received, where candles were lit and where Anniversaries Masses were celebrated. The Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross has been and remains part of the lives of so many over the years. It is here that the sacred story that is Myshall is written.

And in the days before, after or on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross you always gather for the Quarantore tradition. The forty hours of adoration. Spending time in God’s presence, saying nothing, so that He might speak to us. Spending time with the Lord so that one day He might offer eternity to us and those who sat and knelt in these church seats before us.

A brief glance at our gospel, little did Peter know the question he asked Jesus would one day come back to haunt him, ‘how often must we forgive one another?’[2] It seemed a genuine question. And it receives a more than generous response reminding us forgiveness has no limitations: “not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times”[3]. 

Let us look at this seventy-seven bit. Some translators even offer the figure of seventy times seven, suggesting it is allot closer to the original Greek. If we go with the seventy times seven, we are looking at a figure of 490. So, the magnitude of Jesus in his instruction to forgive rests at 490, but we do not start holding on to grudges at number 491! We are being told let’s put no limit on the number of times we should forgive, it’s measureless mercy, freeing forgiveness with no strings attached!

Maybe Peter expected Jesus to give him a compliment! We know ourselves our patience can wear thin and our forgiveness resolve run low if it’s too early in the morning, or if we are already hurt and tender. Our first reading from the book of Ecclesiasticus offers context to Matthew’s gospel. Resentment and anger can take possession of us, can grip us so tightly that we feel powerless to forgive and the one who hurts most is usually ourselves.

But Christ on the Cross has paid a debt for all our sins. A debt paid by shedding His precious blood. We are alive because we are forgiven. From his wounded side flows grace and mercy. St. Paul reminds us that none of us lives for himself and none of us dies for himself. We belong to the Lord for “Christ both died and came to life, it was so that he might be the Lord both of the dead and of the living”[4].

Last Wednesday as part of a gathering of Bishops from around the world, who are part of the Focolare Movement, we had the privilege to meet with Pope Leo. Pope Leo holds the themes of charity, unity, reconciliation as constants in his teachings. The Church must be a model of unity within itself. A divided Church cannot evangelise a broken world. Jesus lived for 33 years in a world of divisions. We cannot allow the Cross or hatred to have the last word. We must create the space where dialogue can begin, where mercy can take root in a parish community, the church building is that space.

He reminded us in the Western world where individualism has taken firm roots, “the once-stable networks of family, friendship and community are giving way to greater fragmentation, and where freedom is increasingly presented as absolute autonomy … people today frequently feel less free to be their genuine selves or follow their highest ideals, out of a hidden fear of being judged or not fitting in”[5].

We have been forgiven a debt beyond counting, let’s not leave Myshall Church, in its 250^th Anniversary Year this morning, clutching onto some old grudge or counting the times our neighbour, a family member, has aggravated us. The titular Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross reminds us we are all above this, and if we can allow ourselves to rise above it, no better way to mark this semiquincentennial anniversary and to draw a conclusion on these forty hours of adoration.

[1] Comerford, Michael, ‘Collections relating to the Dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin’, Vol. III, 1886, pg. 319

[2] Mt.18:21

[3] Mt.18:22

[4] Rm.14:9

[5] Pope Leo XIV, ‘Address to the Bishops who are friends of the Focolare Movement’, Clementine Hall, Wednesday, 09 September 2026

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Introduction:

We gather to acknowledge the contribution and ministry of the Presentation Sisters here to Bagenalstown. We do so in the context of the story of education in these parts. We also do so in the context of the Parish Vigil Mass, conscious that while the Sisters established the schools and worked there, the ripple effect of their presence here can be found in every facet of parish life. The plaque I will unveil later reads “Presentation Sisters, Bagenalstown 1838-2019 ‘Not Words but Deed’ (Nano Nagle)”.

A presence of 181 years, and this evening we honour that contribution on this the Vigil of the Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, as the lens turns to forgiveness, it’s that forgiving bit that is hardest to do! We are invited to forgive from our heart, no if’s, buts or maybes, just a total, absolute, unconditional forgiveness.

The unforgiving servant in the gospel disturbs us because he sails close to the wind, he could be any of us. This evening’s parable drives the point home, if God is big enough to forgive us, we should be only too ready to forgive one another and maybe most difficult of all to forgive ourselves. As we celebrate the Presentation Sisters, their place here in Bagenalstown, in Muinebheag, where they kept the lantern of Nano kindled for many years, we give thanks as we call to mind our sins …

• Is tusa Tobar na Trócaire – you are the wellspring of mercy:
A Thiarna, déan trócaire

• Is tusa Slí na Fírinne – you are the way of Truth:
A Chríost, déan trócaire

• Bí linn i gconaí, ós ár gcomhair amach – be with us always, showing us the way. A Thiarna, déan Trócaire

Homily:

On this Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, we find ourselves well into the year of celebration for Venerable Nano Nagle, for the Presentation Sisters. Last Christmas Eve set the celebrations in motion, and they have continued ever since.

I look forward to a celebration in the former convent, now Carlow County Museum on Tullow Street, Carlow, at the convent cemetery and in the Cathedral, next month, where we will acknowledge the Carlow story and how it helped to shape later convent foundations.

The Nano Nagle story, the Presentation story, has deep roots in our Diocese. Tullow Street, Carlow was founded in 1811 and from Carlow, Portlaoise was founded in 1824; Kildare in 1830; Stradbally in 1852; Portarlington in 1854; Mountmellick in 1854; Clondalkin in 1857 and Baltinglass in 1873.

And from Portlaoise, Bagenalstown was founded in 1838 and Clane in 1839. From Kildare, Wagga Wagga in New South Wales was founded in 1874. And from Clondalkin, Lucan was founded in 1867, Warrenmount in 1892, Lismore, New South Wales in 1896 and Rockford Manor in 1958. I thank those behind designing the concept of ‘The Presentation Tree’ for the accuracy of these dates.

For a moment let’s go back to the Cork of Nano Nagle’s day. It’s labyrinths of lanes and alleys, so familiar to the lady of the lantern. Catholics had a very dismal future. Fourteen percent of the profitable land was in Catholic ownership; in other words, eighty-six percent wasn’t! A lease to a Catholic was limited to thirty-one years.

Penal days were tough, and the world Nano was born into in Ballygriffin was still very much one dominated by the context of those Penal days. While her legacy is education and particularly the education of those for whom, without the Ursulines, without the Presentation Sisters, there would have been no prospects at all; her awareness of poverty in the lives of people made her very socially astute. Her great friend Bishop Coppinger would speak of her “lacerated limbs and festering wounds” when she died, she gave herself fully and completely.
Brenan’s ‘Schools of Kildare and Leighlin 1775-1835’ mentions two schools in Kilcarig, Bagenalstown, a boys and a girls. The average daily attendance of boys was 50, all Roman Catholics. The average daily attendance at the girl’s school was put a little higher at 60, although Brenan noted it could decrease to 30 in the winter. The priests were the inspectorate of the day. In one note regarding the strict reading of scripture with no commentary or context was described in the priests’ report as an “obnoxious arrangement” and was highly critical of the Kildare Place Society, an early philanthropic group, set up to educate the poor.

The author of that inspection was the gifted and talented Parish Priest Fr. Michael Prendergast. He facilitated the establishment of the convent and school here in Bagenalstown in 1838 by bequeathing in his will his house and property for education purposes. The sisters arrived here on August 4th that year, with a school opening the following month. Interestingly 175 years later I would arrive to the diocese on the very same day, August 4th.

1901 would set the establishment of a Secondary Education here. Queen of the Universe and Presentation De le Salle both grew respectively out of the one opened in September 1838, and the one opened in 1901. Prendergast was Vicar General to the great JKL. TJ Walsh tells us that in 1823, fifteen years before the foundation in Bagenalstown JKL asserted that “seven counties of Leinster were better served educationally than any other part of the empire” , his words not mine!

The standard of education established by the Presentation Sisters in Bagenalstown was exceptional. The opening of the school in 1838 coincided with the onslaught of the 1840’s famine. you cannot educate an empty stomach, so once again the appropriateness of the quote from Nano Nagle on the plaque: “not words but deeds”.

The building at the convent soon outgrew itself and the foundation for a new school was laid in 1851. In 1899 the numbers attending were early 500. The building with its many extensions was in use until 1956, when a new primary school was opened. An inspectorate report in 1864 assessed Bagenalstown as being well staffed, unlike other Presentation foundations, with the average daily pupil attendance put at 50.5% which was high for its time .
1901 saw the opening of a Secondary School in the purchased Dr. Stawell’s house on Regent Street. The first Principal was Mother Alphonsus, a gifted science teacher. The school was to be recognised by the Department twenty years later.

Enough of history, what is the lesson left after the Sisters, after Nano Nagle, after the luminaries such as Fr. Michael Prendergast PP VG and those who came after them? Fr. Prendergast’s twin grandnieces entered the convent here in the 1860’s; their brother his grandnephew Denis Byrne became a priest in Liverpool. It’s his chalice we use this evening.

Matthew’s gospel reminds us forgiveness has no limitations: “not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times” . If, in our schools, we can inculcate an atmosphere of mercy, of forgiveness; if in our schools, we can model mercy, we are teaching much more than a curriculum.

Gen Z have shown again and again they are open to religion. Pope Leo, speaking in May this year reminded us “the new generation is not closed off to the Gospel, on the contrary, many when they discover it, want to know it better, because they perceive that within it lies the secret to being truly happy” . Nothing can give us greater happiness than forgiving the hurt someone has caused us.

Our new Senior Cycle RE Programme is titled ‘Made for More’, all of us are made for more, and this is something that Nano Nagle and those pioneering sisters in Bagenalstown and their early lay compatriots would be rightly proud. Forgiveness, Mercy, Reconciliation makes us bigger people, makes for more!

The farewell to the Sisters has been made this evening, but the thanksgiving endures. The story of the Presentation Sisters will always be inextricably interwoven with the story of Bagenalstown and its people.

The post Homily from Mass Honouring the Contribution & Ministry of the Presentation Sisters to Bagenalstown appeared first on Kandle.

Introduction:

It’s a great joy for all of us to gather in Cill Mhuire, Mary’s Church, here in Newbridge to mark the Twentieth Anniversary of Polish Chaplaincy in our Diocese. We fondly remember people like Bishop Jim Moriarty who twenty years ago discerned the need and drew up the agreement that led to the establishment of this important and significant chaplaincy in our diocese.

Time has moved on, twenty years later, our diocese and people are in a different space. It is opportune and timely to once again return to that definition and redefine it through the lens this time of 2026, and not 2006. 

It’s also great that so many clergy (Fr’s Ruairí, Joe, Antony, Locky & Thaddeus; Dn’s Fergal, Jim, Sebastian & Michal) join with our Polish Chaplain Piotr and myself to mark this significant milestone. And more importantly it’s great that the great that so many from the Polish Community all across the Diocese with their Irish neighbours and friends are here to celebrate today.

The scripture readings on this Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time reminds us of the importance of sensitive correction. A sensitivity that leads to forgiveness, mercy and healing. The story of the Polish people from the horrors of the Second World War has been one of resilience and mercy; and it continues to be as Poland stands at the frontier of the four and half year war waging between Russia and Ukraine. You and your people know what it’s like to forgive, to take correction and so we pray …

• Is tusa Tobar na Trócaire – you are the wellspring of mercy:

A Thiarna, déan trócaire 

• Is tusa Slí na Fírinne – you are the way of Truth: 

A Chríost, déan trócaire

• Bí linn i gconaí, ós ár gcomhair amach – be with us always, showing us the way.                                                                                 A Thiarna, déan Trócaire

Homily:

It’s in the gathering of our two’s and three’s we meet God. “For where two or three meet in my name. I shall be there with them”^[1]. The brother in the gospel could be any of us!! The responsibility weighing on Ezekiel’s shoulders falls heavy on all of us, a responsibility to correct, to point out another direction. St. Paul is perhaps bluntest and the most cunning of all, reminding us: “love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour”^[2].

Too many neighbours have been hurt; too many today remain un-reprimanded; too many brothers fall out and never reconcile. Pope Francis reminded us in Dublin at the World Meeting of Families eight years ago that “no family comes down from heaven perfectly formed”.

Family is very important, and a critical concept in the Polish tradition. We have come to celebrate the Twentieth Anniversary, what is known as the China Anniversary of Polish Chaplaincy here in Kildare & Leighlin diocese.

So to all of you I say: Szczesliwy Dwudziestej Rocznice! Happy Twentieth Anniversary!

Some of you came to the diocese, perhaps as young couples, searching for a new life. You settled here, married and raised a family. Your children have been brought up in Ireland. While summer holidays are with the grandparents in Poland, they are 100% Irish.

They play GAA with local clubs; they wear Man City, Arsenal or Chelsea tops, like their peers; they enjoy the Saw Doctors as much as the rest of us and they cheered on Katie Taylor last night. In other words, they are as much Irish as any and all of us are. That is the success of Polish integration, but you must never lose who you are, the traditions you bring and the customs that are yours.

Immediately coming to mind is the ‘Blessing of Food Baskets’ on Holy Saturday morning. I think I can safely say if the numbers who attend those Blessing Rituals was replicated on other Sundays we would be building or extending churches in Kildare and Leighlin to accommodate new ethnic congregations! Also, the blessing of bread at Christmas and the sending of blessed bread in greeting cards to family and friends. The beautiful Polish tradition of going to Confession a number of times before celebrating Marriage is laudable and one indeed that could be adopted by Irish couples. As parents you want to pass on to your children the values, traditions, and lived faith that you received from your parents and grandparents back in Poland. Our parishes are enriched by your presence and participation.

One of the themes in our upcoming National Synodal Assembly next month is that of ‘belonging’. While sports clubs, community activities and cultural involvement all help create that sense of ‘belonging’; for you the Polish people, the church, not in its building per se, but in the opportunity it creates for us to gather, to pray, to be as one, before our God and maker remains profound. It’s here we hear the gospel call on occasions to ‘go to your brother’ – when a brother sins, we should go and speak with him privately[3]. He doesn’t ask us to shout it from the roof top to tell everyone else about it, he says, go directly to your brother. Genuine love sometimes requires difficult conversations.

I commend the many spiritual exercises and activities that your chaplaincy through the seeds established by Thaddeus and rotavated and cultivated since by Piotr, supported by Lucja O’Neill, and many more at parish level include activities such as altar serving. Polish Christian names now populate Sacristy Register books. I commend the Catechesis for Children, it’s not enough to have young people serving, it’s important to form them.

I also think of the Domestic Church, the Living Rosary Groups, the Men of St. Joseph (who prayed the Rosary before our Mass), the Crusade for Human Liberation, the Friends of the Bridegroom, the Meetings with Miriam, the Youth Bible Drama Group (who offered the artistic-patriotic performance earlier); the Polish Scouts and the Schola Leaders. For particular mention the newly established Polish Chaplaincy Secretariat lead by Lucja and the Irish Polish Parish Co-ordinators. My hope is that every one of our eleven Pastoral Areas would in time have an Irish-Polish coordinator. You the Polish families can help the indigenous Irish to get to know our faith again, by welcoming Irish into your many formation groups. And there may be further groups yet to be established to meet other needs.

I wish all of you every blessing this day.

Presenting an Icon to Our Lady of Czestochowa on behalf of the diocese to you the Polish people. It will hang here in Cill Mhuire, in Mary’s Church, which will always remain the spiritual home of the Polish Chaplaincy.

[1] Mt. 18:20

[2] Rom. 13:10

[3] Mt.18:15

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Cathedral of the Assumption, Carlow

Introduction:

It makes such great sense to me to launch my Pastoral Letter here in the Cathedral of our diocese. Published during the week, it says no more than what has been flagged in several pastoral letters issued in recent times (2022, 2024 and in February this year).

Indeed declining numbers of priests and the scarcity of vocations is nothing new. We can go back to Bishop Larry Ryan’s time when he sounded the alarm bells in 1998 launching the ‘Challenging Times’ campaign. The truth is that the diocese for the last 70 years has been carried along by the boom of vocations in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. Many have very generously stayed working for which I, those before me, and their parishioners remain deeply grateful.

In our second reading St. Paul reminds us that just like the early Christian community, we too must discern, we must discover, God’s will for us, what is the right thing to do and then we must do it. Matthew’s gospel reminds us pain and suffering are always part of this response.

Peter loves Jesus, but he wanted a Christ without a Cross, a victory without a sacrifice, an Easter without Good Friday. As we gather and ask “what is God saying, what is God asking, of the Church in Kildare & Leighlin at this time?”, each of us are called to play our part – for failures, for those moments of reticence, for the times where we’ve been laggards, we pray for forgiveness …

• Lord Jesus, you are forgiving and kind to all who call on you,

Lord, have mercy …

• Lord Jesus, for you my soul is thirsting,

Christ, have mercy …

• Lord Jesus, you guard us in the shadow of your wings,

Lord, have mercy …

Homily:

Pastoral Letters take their cue from the New Testament texts, such as First and Second Timothy and Titus; all written to guide the early church leaders on matters of governance, pastoral practice, doctrine and general conduct. Bishops might issue one or two a year. They normally are written to address a situation or a particular context. They might be written by a bishop for the concerns of his local diocese or they could be written by the entire hierarchy to address a particular situation, perhaps an upcoming Referendum or a moment in history. 

In recent times much was made by historians of the Pastoral Letter issued by the Irish Hierarchy in October 1922 which forbade the sacraments to some who were active in the Civil War.

The first pastoral letter I wrote was for Good Shepherd Sunday 2014, and the most recent one was written following the clergy changes announced earlier this month. As it was a list of reductions, retirements and absences, it made for stark reading for everyone, myself included. So I thought it might be opportune to speak to these set of changes in the context of a pastoral letter.

I won’t read it word for word, line by line, but just reflect on a few points. In the first paragraph I speak of the age profile of our priests, and the fact that “many of them are serving parishes, long beyond the acceptable retirement age in the secular world”. By the end of next month there will be 45 priests over 75 in the diocese; 27 of them holding posts in parishes, 10 of them are Parish Priests/Administrators. This is the generosity I spoke about earlier.

While I speak of a “new reality”, in honesty we have seen it coming and there has been groundwork undertaken that is helping us and will help us – the ordination of deacons, the training of lay pastoral ministers, increasing number of lay people, religious and clergy working togther in councils, commissions and parish groups. But this groundwork needs the cooperation not just of a few but of all in our parishes. The time has come for people across the diocese to recognise that the parish, as the place where the Church lives, will be as strong and as vibrant as people’s cooperation and generosity with their gifts and the resources, that we can be assured God has provided in every one of our 56 parishes. 

Back to Bishop Larry Ryan and the launch in the late 1990’s of ‘Challenging Times’, the real act of prophesy is not about predicting how numbers will change, because we know they will, but to understand what this is saying to us and how best we can respond. St. Paul reminds us we need to discern God’s will for us, for our time, so what is he asking of us in Kildare & Leighlin at this time? How can our parishes respond to the call to become the parishes of the baptised? Communities of faith, hope and love.

First of all communities, places of welcome where all feel welcomed. Faith where there are formation programmes offered perhaps at Pastoral Area level, to deepen our faith, to understand our faith. Hope where liturgy is celebrated well and Love where the parish reaches out to the sick, the dying, the lonely and the alone.

Change is never easy. We can all be prone to waiting until we have no choice and only take it fully on board when change comes to our door. Our diocese has 56 parishes and 117 churches. It is natural that people are tied to their parish and their local church. However, we have now reached the point when it is not possible for every parish to have a resident priest. 

In the past year, we have grouped the parishes in 11 Pastoral areas so that they can pull together and come up with the best schedule of Masses given the priests available.  Adjustments will have to be made and some of these will be difficult to accept. I encourage engagement by all in this process; also in the letter “I ask parishioners not to make uunreasonable demands or to have unrealistic expectations of their priest”.

In this evening gospel, Peter remonstrates with Jesus about taking the road to Calvary. He cries out “Heaven preserve you Lord, this must not happen to you”[1]. What the Lord teaches Peter and all of us is that sacrifice is part of our journey if we want to be his true follower. This is a spiritual challenge that we are facing. It will test us and we will need to think beyond our own concerns. That prophetic question remains with us: “what is God saying, what is God asking, of the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin at this time?”

We need more and more Lay involvement and Lay leadership.  We need to warmly welcome and support those who offer themselves for a ministry in their parish or pastoral area.

As I mentioned in my announcement of the clergy changes for 2026, I will continue to seek out international priests to serve in our diocese. But I‘m also very conscious while we warmly welcome those who choose to serve in our diocese, I ask everyone to pray for vocations from our own parishes, our own diocese, to the priesthood.  We need priests.  I also ask everyone to pray for our priests and to continue to support them, encourage them, affirm them.

But remember the Final Document of the Univeral Synodal journey in late 2024 reminded us: “Baptism is the foundation of Christian life. This is because it introduces everyone to the greatest gift, which is to be children of God, that is, to share in Jesus’ relationship to the Father in the Spirit. There is nothing higher than this baptismal dignity, equally bestowed upon each person”[2]. In other words baptism is a much more important sacrament than ordination, so let’s live up to our own baptismal calling. As I say in the letter “it is out of a deeper and richer understanding of what our baptism means that we all begin to find our place in the Church today”. God always provides, but that provision needs our cooperation. We can be hope-filled in the belief that God has given us what we need, but we can’t be complacent and ignore our part in bringing that to fruition. 

We must never forget the Church belongs to Christ whom we serve. We can be consoled and inspired by the witness of those who went before us, who knew great hardship and sacrifice but were able to keep the flame of faith burning. While these are certainly challenging times, we remain a people of hope. There will always be changes in life, but there are realities which do not change and that is our faith in God who as I sign off in the pastoral letter “can do immeasurably more than we can ever ask or imagine”[3]. I commend this Pastoral Letter to your kind attention.

[1] Mt.16:22

[2] Final Document of the Universal Synod, ‘Communion, Participation, Mission’, ¶21, 2024

[3] Ep.3:20

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They include:  

1. Sunday Liturgy Notes for Season of Creation 2026
2. Prayers and Readings for Mass for the Care for Creation: For weekdays, ad experimentum

3. The Season of Creation Prayer for 2026 (seasonofcreation.org ) 
4. A River Ritual:  to be celebrated by a river or stream.
5. Brother River Meditation
6. Rubbish Graveyard – a resource which helps to show people just how long it takes for items to biodegrade.  
7. A Blessing for Animals: Produced by K&L diocese for year of preparation for World Meeting of Families  
8. An Ecological Rosary: with Slides.  
9. Creation Walk Moments:  adapted from the booklet by Fr. Brian Grogan SJ, Creation Walk: The Amazing Story of a Small Blue Planet 
10. Tree Planting Resource 
11. Other Useful Resources: Nurturing your Family Faith in Nature: from Trócaire (as Gaeilge).  Earth Day Prayer Service – Celebrated on April 22^nd each year. With thanks to the Care for Creation team in Balally Parish, Dublin. Listening to Nature: A Trócaire resource.

Also, an online season of Creation worldwide opening prayer will take place next Tuesday, 1^st September at 2pm Dublin Time.  Join/register here: https://seasonofcreation.org/events-soc/september-1st-prayer-service-for-creation-day/

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16.08.26, 3.00pm: Fr. Moore’s Well

Introduction:

It was a Spring day, last February, when Betty O’Shea first contacted me about ‘Fr. Moore’s Well’ and the strong desire to honour it in this bicentenary year of Fr. John Moore’s death. She had the full support of Fr. Willie. I think Betty had some hunch on this summers weather, because she had originally hoped to have the celebration on March 12^th, but thought the weather might not be climatic then for the event! It’s great to welcome the many who have gathered this splendid afternoon.

I have passed by this way many times, this is my first time to visit the well. And how appropriate to have this bicentenary celebration during National Heritage Week 2026, which began yesterday. I begin this week here at ‘Fr. Moore’s Well’ in Rathbride and finish it next Saturday in a Famine Graveyard at Robinstown.

The theme for National Heritage Week 2026 is ‘Heritage at Risk’ and all the events that I’m involved in this week, will highlight heritage that needs our support, our attention, our protection. The local committee here have set up a ‘gofundme’ page to address the immediate need for new gates to the well, wall repairs, road resurfacing and erecting a path to Fr. Moore’s house and that’s probably only the start of their plans! All essential to ensure that ‘Fr. Moore’s Well’ and the rituals associated with it, will be here long after our time.  

Gathering in prayer around the well, around this sacred place, as many have done before us, we call to mind our sins, and pray for God’s love and mercy …

•  Is tusa Tobar na Trócaire – you are the wellspring of mercy:

A Thiarna, déan trócaire 

• Is tusa Slí na Fírinne – you are the way of Truth: 

A Chríost, déan trócaire

• Bí linn i gcónaí, ós ár gcomhair amach – be with us always, showing us the way.

A Thiarna, déan Trócaire

Homily:

We associate wells with scripture passages. There is Jacob’s well near Shechem. It’s the well where Jesus met the woman who came to draw water in the midday sun as recounted in John‘s gospel. There are many wells spoken about in the Book of Genesis, didn’t Joseph’s brothers throw him into an empty well, until they thought the better of it and sold him off to a group of Ishmaelite traders. But I want to return to Jacob’s Well. Fifty years ago a Spiritan priest Adrian Van Kaam wrote probably the best exegesis or commentary on this passage from John 4:4-42. While it’s a Caananite woman and her plight that occupies the mind of todays gospel[1], I will come back to that encounter of Jesus with the woman at the well, weaving a poem written by an American poet Krista Besselman throughout this homily.

“When our past has cast a shadow

Even sunshine can’t dispel,

There is One who knows and loves us

Who will met us at the well”[2].

It’s estimated that there are 3000 holy wells, tobar beannaithe, across Ireland. Each has a devotion, a tradition, a heritage unique to itself. I think of the great devotion to St. Moling on Pattern Day every July as people visit St. Molings Well in St. Mullins, at the other end of the diocese in South Carlow. I think of St. Fintan’s Well near Raheen in Laois where the faithful gather around June 15^th. And of course St. Brigid’s Well in Kildare, a place of great pilgrimage every February 1^st and indeed all year around. I come from Slane in County Meath and yesterday, August 15^th, is known locally as ‘Lady Well Day’ as pilgrims make the journey to the holy well there on the castle grounds. Pilgrims walk in the footsteps of music fans who have been on the same castle grounds on other occasions to enjoy Springsteen, Madonna, Queen, the Rolling Stones and too many more to mention.

“When our first love’s far behind us

And we’re shocked how far we fell,

Look how far He’s come to save us.

Look! He’s waiting at the well”[3].

But what makes this well, ‘Fr. Moore’s Well’ special? I’m told that barely a week goes by that someone comes away from the well, healed physically or spiritually. Of course others will question the authenticity of such healing, but talk to the one who has been healed. They know their pain and they are the ones who experience the healing. Perhaps it’s the water, maybe it’s the hat, or just being here in this holy place. I think of our own Fr. Liam Lawton’s composition: ¯ “This is holy ground / In this holy place / where God’s love is found / we come to seek his face”.

“When we’re shackled with a secret,

Like a captive in a cell,

There is One who knows completely

And will free us at the well”[4].

Water is very transformative, very healing, it allows us to tell our story. The water flows as our narrative unfolds. It remains a miracle how life-giving water can issue from the dry earth. It’s no wonder that wells, springs, fountains, have long been seen as holy places, sacred places. Water also is part of religious ablutions in scripture, as the one being healed[5] is often invited to wash in the water. And so we arrive at the healing powers water offers. Letting go, the flow of the water, reminds us things move on, nothing remains static, but God’s purifying love for each one of us.

“When we’re hurt by long rejection

Bitter looks and angry yells

We find pardon and acceptance

Offered freely at the well”[6].

John Moore was born in Rathbride in 1779. He matriculated to enter the Seminary in Maynooth in 1799 and was ordained on 26^th May 1804[7]. He was appointed here to Allen parish. He seems to have served most of his priesthood here, although it wasn’t always a harmonius time. John Lawlor was Parish Priest during his entire time here, appointed to the parish in 1802 and dying in 1830, four years after Fr. Moore. Fr. John Moore lived with his mother in a tatched house a short distance from the well. Local gentry reported him to Bishop James Doyle, better known as JKL. Accompanied by Fr. Patrick Brennan PP of Kildare and other clergy, JKL asked Fr. Moore to desist from his kind of ministry in Allen parish. Fr. Moore held his ground, respectfully but firmly. He lit two candles by blowing on them, having read from scripture for a while. JKL departed, telling Fr. Moore “to continue your good work”. It was interesting that it was in June 1823, three years before Fr. Moore’s death, that JKL would write a Pastoral to the faithful of the diocese regarding a miraculous cure, twelve days earlier, through the intercession of the Dean of Bamberg[8]. It was the cure of a woman, named Maria Lalor, of a speech impediment, which for over six years she had suffered. So JKL believed in these kind of supernatural events, and we are certain that he crossed paths with Fr. Moore. 

“When we’ve drunk the living water

But we feel like empty shells,

We are overdue a visit

To the Healer at the well”[9].

While John 4 brings us the account of the Woman at the Well, its from Matthew 15 that this afternoons gospel is taken. It tells of the Canaanite woman, the first woman to speak in Matthews gospel. She, an outsider, has come to Jesus, she has come not for heself, but for her daughter. It’s a powerful message of healing. The disciples are uncomfortable with her antics. I love the line: “give her what she wants, because she is shouting after us”[10], not because she deserves it, not because she cares deeply about her daughter but because they are embarrassed by her shouting. For them, the woman is an inconvenience. This comes out of their smallness, their impoverishment. Two weeks ago they wanted to send the crowds away and yet Jesus found it within himself to feed “the 5,000 men, to say nothing of women or children”[11]. The disciples are slow to learn the signs.

“When we can’t afford perfection

But find grace a harder sell,

If we’re ready to accept it,

There is freedom at the well”[12].

I began by speaking of the number of holy wells, its estimated there are 3,000 tobar beannaithe across the country. Someone asked me does the priest bless the water at the particular well, the water is blessed by the fact of so many coming and believing in its curative qualities. Relics get us up close with the one who has a reputation for holiness; there is only one relic of Fr. John Moore and that’s his hat, not just an ordinary hat, but a silk chimney-pot hat! Nothing else remains, but folklore, tradition and custom. When we are in pain, whether it’s a migrane or some other ache, like the Canaanite woman we too will understandably cry: “Lord, help me”[13].

“When we’re busy and exhausted,

Sit beside Him for a spell.

There’s an open invitation

Come and join Him at the well”[14].

National Heritage Week allows us a week to celebrate places off the beaten track, places where signposting can be dubious or even suspect. We do that this afternoon here in Rathbride. That a priest who died at the tender age of 47 back in 1826 should have us gathering two hundred years later is itself a feat. I commend the local committee and encourage what you do to keep the story of Fr. John Moore alive in these parts. A little like the persistence of the Canaanite woman, today your prayers are answered!

“When we find such love and mercy

It’s our joy to run and tell.

Come and bring the others with you,

Come, be women at the well”[15].

[1] Mt.15:21-28

[2] Besselman, Krista, ‘Woman at the Well’, 2015

[3] ibid

[4] ibid

[5] 2K5-13; Jn.5:1-15; Jn.9:7

[6] Besselman, Krista, ‘Woman at the Well’, 2015.

[7] Hamell, Patrick J., ‘Maynooth Students and Ordinations Index 1795-1895’, 1982, Student #6391, pg.174

[8] Comerford, Fr. Michael, Dioceses of Kildare & Leighlin, Volume 1, 1883, pg. 99.

[9] Besselman, Krista, ‘Woman at the Well’, 2015.

[10] Mt.15:23

[11] Mt.14:21

[12] Besselman, Krista, ‘Woman at the Well’, 2015.

[13] Mt.15:25

[14] Besselman, Krista, ‘Woman at the Well’, 2015.

[15] ibid

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Introduction:

It’s August 14^th – the Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe – priest and martyr. We know his story well. A Conventual Franciscan Friar who worked in the apostolate of the press in Poland and Japan, and died in Auschwitz.

Last year, during the Youth 2000 Summer Festival, I celebrated with you the Memorial of Edith Stein. Another one of our saints whose story came to prominence in the same concentration camp. Edith or St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross as she is known now, died on August 9^th, 1942. Maximilian Kolbe died a year earlier on August 14^th, 1941.

‘Died’ isn’t the correct word for it; historians estimate 1.1M perished in Auschwitz over its five years of existence.

The prophet Ezekiel exhorts us to live life to the full. Israel is described as an unfaithful wife. He pardons her because of the covenant he had made with her. And so we pray for God’s love and mercy as we call to mind all that impedes our relationship with God, with one another and with self …  

• Is tusa Tobar na Trócaire – you are the wellspring of mercy:

A Thiarna, déan trócaire 

• Is tusa Slí na Fírinne – you are the way of Truth: 

A Chríost, déan trócaire

• Bí linn i gcónaí, ós ár gcomhair amach – be with us always, showing us the way.

A Thiarna, déan Trócaire

Homily:

It is said he was Prisoner #16670. It was believed that by giving someone a number dehumanises them, and that’s why the numbering system in Auschwitz, Birkenau and elsewhere was so cold and calculating. We know Prisoner #16670 best as St. Maximilian Kolbe. Pope John Paul II said “Maximilian did not die but gave his life … for his brother”.

Maximilian Kolbe’s life was marked by an ardent devotion to Our Lady from a young age. It is said that he did something to bother his mam as a young ten year old, she told him to go and pray, asking what will become of him. He turned to Our Lady. She came to him in his prayer offering him two crowns, a white one and a red one. The former representing a life of purity; the latter representing martyrdom. He accepted both.

What happened in Auschwitz didn’t come out of thin air; Kolbe lived a pure life. Everything he did, led to those actions, known now the world over. His story of heroism, courage and self-sacrifice didn’t begin the day he volunteered to die in place of a stranger at Auschwitz. The prisoner he saved Franciszek Gajowniczek, a husband and a dad would years later attend his beatification and canonisation ceremonies. For Maximilian Kolbe it was the ultimate sacrifice he made, giving up his own life to save a man who had a wife and children. 

Three words jump out for me in the story of Maximilian Kolbe, from today’s scripture readings fusing on both the Prophet Ezekial and St. Matthew, promise, sacrifice and generosity. Friday at Youth 2000 Festivals is always ‘confession night’. An opportunity to be reconciled with God, with one another and with self. Are you good at keeping a promise? When did you last make a sacrifice? When did you miss an opportunity for generosity?

It is said that a promise is easy to make when the sun is shining, their true worth begins when the storms begin. Ezekiel has God speaking to Jerusalem as a bridegroom speaks to his bride. It’s not an easy reading, because Israel has been unfaithful, Isreal has failed to keep its side of the covenant. But God never forgets us, he has carved us on the palm of his hand, he always invites the sinner home.

In Matthew’s gospel we move to a debate around marriage and divorce, again not of itself bedside light reading. This is a tough message. The Pharisees are setting a trap, as someone wrote “they come to the wedding feast carrying a legal measuring tape!” Every time Jesus brings them back to the start, to the beginning, what marriage is, not what divorce disrupts. Marriage is, like the wedding I celebrated recently for my nephew Brendan and his wife now Eimear, marriage is a covenant, a promise before God. As Robert Frosts poem says “promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep”, tell the priest tonight about your broken promises.

And then comes Prisoner #16670 into the frame. Maximilian Kolbe wasn’t chosen by the German officer Karl Fritsch as one of the ten who must be starved to death because a man had escaped the camp. Franciszek Gajowniczek cried out because he had a wife and children; Maximilian broke ranks and put himself forward: “I am a Catholic priest. I want to die for that man; I am old; he has a wife and children”. He went to the dark cellar and sang hymns to Our Lady. Two weeks of starvation didn’t kill him, it was a fatal dose of phenol on this day, 85 years ago. Maximilian sacrificed himself for another. What is your understanding of sacrifice? The sacrifice of the Mass, the life, death and resurrection of Christ. As a young person is Mass a central part of my life?  

Generosity. Maximilian Kolbe had nothing to gain by stepping forward. It was the ultimate act of generosity. Maximilian didn’t begin his act of generosity on the day he entered the bunker. He practiced it from his youngest years – living love through prayer, purity, obedience, being a good priest and having a deep devotion to Our Lady. A tree does not become strong on the day of the storm, it becomes strong through years of putting down roots. It’s no wonder St. John Paul II proclaimed Maximilan Kolbe patron of the “suffering”. All of us suffer – confession, reconciliation, penance – is a wonderful tool to free us from that suffering.

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Introduction:

We gather on August 11^th, the Feast of St. Clare. Her feast is determined, like many of our saints feasts, by the date of their death – in her case it was August 11^th. But this year we also honour the eighth centenary of the death of St. Francis.

We gather in St. Clare’s Church, Graiguecullen once again in celebration of St. Clare and St. Francis and indeed in celebration of the Poor Clare’s presence among us here in Carlow for the past 133 years. The Rule of their Order was only confirmed by Papal Bull, the day before St. Clare’s death. The Poor Clare’s, by their life and example witness to us the face of God.

We seek His face. We ring their bell. We knock on their door. We write out our petitions. Let’s for a moment recollect ourselves as we call to mind our woundedness and brokenness in His presence as we pray…

• Is tusa Tobar na Trócaire – you are the wellspring of mercy:

A Thiarna, déan trócaire 

• Is tusa Slí na Fírinne – you are the way of Truth: 

A Chríost, déan trócaire

• Bí linn i gconaí, ós ár gcomhair amach – be with us always, showing us the way.                                                                      A Thiarna, déan Trócaire

Homily:

I have celebrated a lot of weddings in my life. There is nothing I enjoy more than sacramental moments with family and friends. Indeed Saturday last I baptised my four month old grandniece, Isla Kate, a daughter to my nephew Leo and his wife Shauna.

In all the weddings I’ve celebrated over the past 39 years, including my earlier year as a deacon, the gospel from Matthew that relays ‘the parable of the ten wedding attendants’ has never been used by a couple. Today we use this text from St. Matthew to honour the Poor Clare’s and to celebrate the Feast of St. Clare.

It speaks a language that always grates a little with me, words like “foolish”[1]; “drowsy”[2]; phrases like “the door was closed”[3] and “I do not know you”[4]. The Strait of Hormuz reminds us of our global dependency on oil. One fifth of the world’s oil supply passes through the Strait.

And here we have a parable presented to us of five foolish and five wise girls. The foolish ones took lamps but no oil; the wise brought flasks of oil along with lamps. Again I’ll remind you ‘foolish’ is a judgemental word and one which shouldn’t be in anyone’s vocabulary. What seems absent for me is the generosity that comes with having flasks of oil. There is a world of difference between “there may not be enough for us and for you …”[5] and ‘there is not enough …”. Five loaves and two fish fed thousands, it wasn’t in Jesus’ vocabulary to say “there may not be enough”[6]. 

The Feast of St. Clare celebrates generosity, the generosity of an 18 year old in 1212 who belonged to the noblest family, leaving everything behind her, making her way to Assisi to find Francis. He had made a similar journey, the same sacrifice, seven years earlier.

Clare could have chosen fine clothing, comfort, a socially acceptable marriage; instead she heard Francis preach about Christ, about the poor, about distain for riches. That word entered her heart, and she acted upon it.

We are told it was Palm Sunday in 1212 when Clare walked out on her family and found her way to the Portiuncula. Before the altar of the Blessed Virgin, she laid aside her rich, lavish clothing, to wear the clothes of Christ. As St. Paul says Clare “put on Christ”[7]. She became little before God. Her poverty was not misery, but it freed her. Her hands, empty of riches, now allowed her entirely to hold onto Christ.

Francis had done this some years earlier. In the Portiuncula Clare was freed  of her riches and veiled for Christ. Fourteen years later in 1226 Francis sensing his imminent death, asked the brothers to carry to the Portiuncula, the same chapel were Clare was veiled. It was there he would breathe his last on October 4^th.

It was in the Portiuncula that Francis first heard the instruction: “Francis, go repair my church, which, as you see, is falling into ruin”, at first believing it was the one in Assisi, but in fact it was the Church, universal. It still needs repairing, there will always be work to be done. This year we honour the eighth centenary of Francis’ death, we are very aware that while he has died, his poetry, his song, his example, like Clare’s remains.

The Poor Clare’s here in Carlow, as we fondly remember Sr. Therese who died exactly a month ago on July 11^th, the Poor Clare’s continue the song of St. Clare and the poetry of St. Francis. Without Francis, there wouldn’t have been Clare. The man in the rough, tattered habit, the man who wore a knotted rope for a belt, changed Clare’s way of looking at everything and forever altered the direction of her life.

Was she foolish? Her family thought so, and like Francis’ tried to drag her back home to see reality. Was she wise? Well eight centuries later we are still talking about her. The oil in her lamp continues to reflect the face of Christ. She has entered the wedding feast. We see the same reflective love in the face of the Poor Clare’s, let’s also find it in one another.

[1] Mt.25:2

[2] Mt.25:4

[3] Mt.25:10

[4] Mt.25:12

[5] Mt.25:9

[6] ibid

[7] Rm.13:14

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