Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

A special two-day celebration will take place at the Carmelite Church, White Abbey, Kildare Town (R51 K379) on 15/16 July as part of the Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Veneration will be held on Wednesday, 15 July, from after 10am Mass until 7pm, and on Thursday, 16 July, from after 10am Mass until 8pm. Fr Simon Nolan O’Carm, Provincial of the Irish Carmelites, will celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

An exhibition on the life of St Thérèse of Lisieux, the Martin family, and elements of the 2001 exhibition will be on display in the Carmel Hall beside the church on both days after 10am Mass. 

This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the historic visit of the relics of St Thérèse to Ireland in 2001.

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Listen Back: I Came to Knock

In the late 1970s, I was working for the Catholic Communications Centre in Dublin as a communications trainer and a journalist in its Network Tapes division, which produced recorded programmes for use in the religious curriculum in Ireland's schools. 

One of the tapes I worked on was about Knock Shrine in County Mayo. The parish priest at the time, the late Msgr James Horan, spoke with me about his experiences when he was first posted to Knock in 1963, and also offered his thoughts on reports of apparent miracles among often very ill people who visit Marian shrines.

Produced by Brian Byrne, from interviews I did for the I Came To Knock programme for Network in the CCC.

Relics of St Thérese for Suncroft

Relics of St Thérese of Lisieux and her parents SS Louis and Zelie Martin will be at St Brigid's Parish Church in Suncroft this weekend.

On Saturday the Mass is at 6pm, and on Sunday 10.30am.

Veneration of the relics after both masses.

This year is the centenary of the canonisation of St Thérese and it is ten years since her parents were canonised.

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Christmas Services in Kilcullen area

Just to give everyone a chance to plan for whatever local Christmas services they may want to attend.

Kilcullen & Gormanstown Parish

Gormanstown: Christmas Eve 8pm Vigil Mass, Carol singing from 7.30pm; No Mass on Christmas Day.

Kilcullen: Christmas Eve 6pm Family Mass; Christmas Day Masses 10am, 11.30am. St Stephen's Day 9.30am Mass. January 1st World Day of Peace 11am Mass. Feast of the Epiphany 6th January (Day of Obligation) 9.30am Mass.

Church of Ireland Services

Blue Christmas Service: Friday 20 December, St Patrick's Church, Carnalway, 7pm. Carol Services: St John's Yellow Bog 22nd at 7.30pm. Followed by refreshments. Christmas Eve Carols and Holy Communion in St Brigid's Cathedral 11pm. Christmas Day Holy Communion Service: 10am St John’s Yellow Bog; 11.30am St Brigid’s Cathedral Kildare. 

Brannockstown Baptist Church

Sunday Service 22nd December 11am. Christmas Day Service 11am.

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Healing Service planned for Crookstown

A Healing Service will be led by Fr Columba Jordan CFR in Crookstown on Thursday 15 February, writes Brian Byrne. The service in Ss Mary & Lawrence Church (R14 WD80) will begin at 7pm. All are welcome.

Fr Columba is a native of Kilcullen and is a member of his community in Limerick. He has been a member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal since 2001, and was ordained in 2011. He is the son of Robert and Maedbh Jordan who used to live in Kilcullen. 

With Bro John Bosco Mills, he conducted a Parish Retreat Day in Kilcullen last September.

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Spiritual discussions towards Lent

A series of seven Friday night discussions on spiritual aspects of life will be held in Newbridge from January 28.

They will take place in the W12 WR12 building (beside Newbridge Tiles & Bathrooms) between 7-8pm, and are designed as precursor towards Lent.

Part of the America-based ChristLife evangelical programme ChristLife, the sessions include a video message and discussion about it, with complimentary refreshments.

Contact Niamh for information and registration at 086 1758458.

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Bible Exhibition in Kilcullen today

A Bible Exhibition taking place in the Heritage Centre this afternoon and evening is an opportunity for anyone interested in the best-selling book in the world to find out more about it, writes Brian Byrne.

Hosted by the Brannockstown Baptist Community, the event features exhibition material organised by the Immanuel Church Dublin, part of the Church of Ireland Diocese of Dublin.

"The exhibition is in fact part of the contribution for the recent Culture Night by the Immanuel Church Dublin," says Richard Blayney, Pastor of the Brannockstown Baptist community. "With us today we have five Baptist Church of Ireland students, who are helping us out in different ways through this week in Brannockstown."

The event is an opportunity for anyone with an interest to browse the displays and perhaps find out things they never knew about the Bible. "There's some free literature, and a little bookstall for anyone who might like to buy a Bible, or books like that," Richard notes.

For Baptists and other evangelical churches, the Bible is considered the foundation of everything that they do in their church. "It's a big book, and a lifetime study," says Richard, recalling a description of John's Gospel as 'shallow enough for a child to paddle in and deep enough for an elephant to swim'. "We'll have a little video running describing the different kinds of books you find in the Bible, and we also have some children's activity sheets."

The event is a first for the Brannockstown Baptist community, so they are looking forward to see how it turns out. It runs until 9pm this evening.

Pictured are Luke Keyes, Richard Blayney, Richard Donnan, Joshua Porter, Alan McCartney, and (front) Andrew Moorecroft.

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Kilcullen and 'Rome v Republic'

From RTE's 'Rome v Republic'.

The Rome v Republic documentary shown on RTE television last week was developed and directed by a woman from Kilcullen, writes Brian Byrne.

The documentary is presented by Senator Michael McDowell and examines the Catholic Church's relations with the Irish State over the last 200 years, and directed by Niamh Sammon, originally from Nicholastown.

It begins with Wolfe Tone's ill-fated efforts to get help from France to overthrow British rule in Ireland. The founding of Maynooth Seminary in 1795, and the work to achieve Catholic Emancipation by Daniel O'Connell are reviewed. At the current end of history, interviews with Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, a range of Irish historians and religious commentators, and former President of Ireland Mary McAleese are part of the story.

The 'Romification' of the Irish Catholic Church by Cardinal Paul Cullen, born in Kildare and achieving a position of extraordinary power in the heart of the Catholic Church in Rome, is outlined. A programme of church building undertaken by him in the mid and late 1800s included Kilcullen's Parish Church.

The use of education to further the control of the church in almost every aspect of Irish life is thoughtfully established in the documentary, and Clonliffe College, the former diocesan seminary in Dublin, also features. The relationship of the Irish hierarchy with emerging nationalism is also examined. The extensive archives for the former Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, shine more light on the retention of the church's power but also his development of social services in a poverty-stricken period in Dublin. Bringing matters right up to date, the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland last year is used in the concluding section.

The documentary was triggered by an article written by Senator McDowell in 2017 at the height of the furore from the revelation of the Tuam Mother and Babies scandal. Available on the RTE Player, as a Reel Story Production for RTE, it is a carefully researched, well written and highly illustrated piece of television journalistic work. It captures in the short space of a little over an hour a very significant part of what has made us who we are as today's nation.

For those of us who grew up through the 1950s it is both a reminder and a revelation. For those of today's younger generations who choose to view the programme, it may cause bemusement but is also likely to re-form some of their notions of Irish history. It is highly recommended, both for Senator McDowell's beautifully measured exposition and for Niamh Sammon's deft and illuminating direction.

Niamh Sammon has a solid portfolio of important documentaries for RTE, including 'Ireland's Health Divide' in 2017. Others were 'Medication Nation', also in 2017, and 'Hidden Impact: Rugby and Concussion' in 2015.

She also produced 'Fine Gael: A Family at War' and a four-part documentary about the life of former taoiseach Charles Haughey. She is currently a PhD candidate and tutor at Dublin City University and a freelance television Producer/Director.

Michael McDowell is a former leader of the Progressive Democrats, a former attorney-general and former minister for justice.


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Latin Mass in Kilcullen

A celebration of the Latin Mass will be held in Kilcullen Parish Church on Saturday 18 March.

The Mass begins at 2pm, and the event includes Gregorian Chant and traditional hymns.

It is organised by The Catholic Heritage Association, details of which can be found at catholicheritage.blogspot.ie.

The organisation also has a Facebook page.

New pastor and family in Brannockstown Baptist community

Brannockstown Baptist Church has welcomed a new pastor and his family to join the church. Rich Blayney, his wife Steph and their three young children, are not Kildare born and bred, but have arrived from Coleraine near the north coast of Northern Ireland.

Over the past two years the family was invited to visit the church several times, leading to a longer term invitation! They moved into the manse next to the picturesque church building in August, just in time to settle down before a new term at school and at the church.

At a community welcome party organised by the church in early September Rich joked that the family, who have also lived in the north east of England, feel that they’ve come a long way inland, but that Co Kildare is a beautiful part of the country and one that they’re very excited to explore. He also explained that they left a settled life up north to join the church because the Christian message of peace with God and new life through Jesus is real and true, so it’s a privilege to explore that message with the church and to share it with the community here.

To that end, the church is hosting two special services in September, on the 11th and 18th, asking ‘Aren’t all religions basically the same?’ and ‘Did Jesus really rise from the dead?’. As always, everyone is welcome, Sundays at 11am, and the church can be found online and on Facebook.

Rich and Steph are pictured outside the church, built by John La Touche of Harristown and opened in 1882.

Final day of Flower Festival at Yellow Bog

Today is the final day of the Flower Festival at St John's Church, Yellow Bog, to mark the bicentenary of the church, writes Brian Byrne.

The photo production above, from the official opening on Friday night, gives a taste of the extensive collection of arrangements.

It features the voices of Very Rev Dr John Marsden, Bill Cole, Adrienne Thompson, Most Rev Patricia Patricia Storey, Bishop of Meath & Kildare; and Mario Corrigan from the County Kildare Library and Arts Service.

Music is by the Dara String Quartet, and Peter Moloney on the Telford organ.

Bishop opens St John's Flower Festival

The official opening of the Flower Festival to mark the bicentenary of St John's Church at Yellow Bog last evening was a most pleasant event, writes Brian Byrne. 'Stepping Through Time' was opened by the Most Rev Patricia Storey, Bishop of Meath & Kildare, in the presence of the Dean, Very Rev John Marsden.

A concert and reception for sponsors and supporters of the Festival included music on the church's organ by Peter Moloney, and chamber recitals from the Dara Quartet of Dorly O'Sullivan, Alice Kelly, Helen Harney and Aoife Doyle. Among the composers celebrated were Vivaldi, Elgar, Bach, John Rutter, Arthur Duff and Henry Purcell.

An address by Mario Corrigan of the Kildare County Library & Arts Service looked through the known history of the church, believed to have been built on the site of an earlier church associated with the monastic site of Old Kilcullen.

Organiser Adrienne Thompson thanked all who had helped with the preparation of the Festival, which runs through the weekend and is open from 10am each day. She paid particular tribute to the flower clubs and arrangers who had contributed to the event, and to the sponsors of the various arrangements and the Festival itself, without whom it could not have gone ahead.

The many arrangements on view are varied and imaginative in both blooms used and concepts, and it is only when spending time with the details in each that one comes to appreciate the many stories being told in flowers and motifs. Our photographs here show only a small part of the overall display.

A visitor's fee of €8 will go to parish funds. The Diary suggests the event is well worth taking a little time out to see, not just for the arrangements, but to revisit, or visit for the first time, a church with an interior that is possibly a largely unknown gem in the community.

Lough Derg Pilgrimage

The Kildare Pilgrimage to Lough Derg will take place on Friday 3 July to Sunday 5 July.

The bus will leave Newbridge at 5.45am on the 3rd.

For further information, contact Mick Sammon on 087 6697902.

Bishop Pat Storey visits CPC

Students at Cross & Passion College received an insight into the life journey of the Church of Ireland's first woman bishop when the Most Reverend Pat Storey visited the College, writes Brian Byrne.

Reverend Storey was appointed Bishop of Meath and Kildare in the Church of Ireland (Anglican) in September of last year, when she also became the first woman Anglican bishop in Ireland and Britain.

Born in Belfast, she studied for and achieved her BA degree at Trinity College Dublin and during that time became interested in the Church. She trained for the ministry at the Church of Ireland Theological College in Churchtown, Dublin and was ordained into the Church of Ireland as deacon in 1997 and priest in 1998. In 2004, she was appointed Rector of St Augustine's Church in Londonderry, where she served until she was appointed by House of Bishops to succeed Richard Clarke in her present position.

After speaking to the students of CPC she met staff, and concluded her visit with a short service for other students in the CPC Sacred Space facility. She is pictured above with Ciara Langan and Shannon Nelson.