Fr Joseph Cunningham C.M., RIP
Posted on 06. Nov, 2015 by John Coughlan in Carousel
The death has occurred of Fr Joseph Cunningham C.M., who was the Spiritual Director of the Irish College from 2002 to 2005. The College community sympathises with his family and his Vincentian confrères. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
Sacramental preparation programmes
Posted on 02. Nov, 2015 by John Coughlan in Carousel
On Sunday mornings during the academic year, Irish College Rome seminarians provide catechetical programmes (in the English language) for children preparing for First Holy Communion (around 8 years old) and for young people preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation (from 12 years upward) after the 10am Mass. Over the course of the year, the seminarians involved discern with the parents and each child if this is to be the year for receiving the Sacrament or if he or she should continue in the programme for the following year. The children and young people learn more about their faith and are helped to grow in relationship with Jesus, to come to receive the Eucharist with a lively faith, and to experience the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit in their own lives. The programmes will begin in mid-October 2015. In May, the Sacraments of First Communion and Confirmation will be celebrated on different Sundays. Many families have appreciated this opportunity at the Irish College. The Irish College child safeguarding policy is fully implemented in all activities involved in the catechetical programmes.
For further information on the sacramental preparation programmes, please contact Fr Hugh Clifford by emailing formationdirector@irishcollege.org or by telephoning +39 06 772 63 202.
A Time for Priests 2015
Posted on 14. Sep, 2015 by John Coughlan in Carousel
A Time for Priests
Ongoing formation in prayer, preaching,
call and service
14th to 18th September 2015
The participants of the 2015 Time for Priests with the College formation staff and presenter Fr Stephen Langridge
The Pontifical Irish College hosted a time of reflection, renewal and relaxation, from 14th to 18th September 2015, for priests availing of the opportunity to spend some days in Rome. The course provided participants with an opportunity to visit Rome while deepening their theological awareness through lectures and lived experience of the Church and City. This year’s course supported priests who are working in parishes and other pastoral assignments to be updated on preaching, on the promotion of vocations to the priesthood and on the overall care of the priest in the context of new pastoral challenges.
Those leading this year’s course included:
Fr. John Harris, OP, Regent of Studies of the Irish Dominican Province
Fr. Stephen Langridge, Vocations Director, Archdiocese of Southwark and Chair of Conference of Vocation Directors of England and Wales
Sr. Brenda Dolphin, Department of Psychology, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome
Fr. Tom Norris, Pontifical Irish College, Rome
Liturgies were celebrated each day in the College Chapel with its beautiful Marko Rupnik mosaics and elsewhere. A general audience with the Holy Father, a visit to Subiaco, Castlegandolfo and the English College Villa at Palazzola, a day of reflection and recollection as well as an opportunity to enjoy many of the artistic and cultural delights of Rome formed part of this year’s programme.
If you wish to enquire about next year’s Time for Priests, please telephone the Irish College on the main office number at 00 39 06 772 631 or email ufficio@irishcollege.org
To view the flyer for ‘A Time for Priests’ 2015, click here: Time for Priests Irish College Rome
To see photographs from the days, click here.
A Course for Parishioners 2015
Posted on 08. Sep, 2015 by John Coughlan in Carousel
‘Handing on the Faith Today’, A Course for Parishioners was held at the Irish College, Rome from 7th to 11th September 2015.
To view a set of photographs from the course, click here.
During the days, participants were afforded an opportunity to reflect on the vital work of handing on the faith. The five days included a series of talks, liturgies and guided visits to significant Churches and Basilicas in Rome, a day of spiritual recollection and reflection, a visit to Castlegandolfo and Subiaco as well as an opportunity to attend a General Audience with Pope Francis.
Presentations were given by the following:
- Msgr. Ciarán O’Carroll (Pontifical Irish College, Rome) visited St. Peter’s Basilica, the Basilica of St. John Lateran and the Church of St. Peter in Chains, focusing on the deposit of faith which is at the heart of the Catholic Church.
- Ms. Maura Garrihy, Director of Youth Ministry, Galway Diocese, focused on how to deepen and support the faith of young people.
- Mrs. Catherine Wiley, founder of the Catholic Grandparents Association focused on her experience of grandparents in supporting the life of faith within the family.
- Fr. Tom Norris (Pontifical Irish College, Rome) led a day of reflection.
- Fr. George Hayes (Pontifical Irish College, Rome) looked at the use of art and beauty as a support in handing on faith.
- Fr. Hugh Clifford (Pontifical Irish College, Rome) offered insights into the formation work that goes on at the Irish College and its connection with the handing on of the faith.
If you wish to express interest in next year’s Course for Parishioners , please telephone the Irish College on the main office number at 00 39 06 772 631 or email ufficio@irishcollege.org
To view the flyer for ‘A Course for Parishioners’ 2015, please click here: A Course for Parishioners Irish College Rome
New vocations videos featuring the Irish College
Posted on 30. Aug, 2015 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Four seminarians of the Pontifical Irish College, Rome, tell their vocation stories to Fr Ruairí Ó Dómhnaill in this video produced by iCatholic:
To see a further video of an interview with Fr Ruairí Ó Dómhnaill, Vocations Director for the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, which includes the above Irish College seminarians’ interviews, click here.
The iCatholic ‘Called and Chosen’ series on on vocations to diocesan priesthood in Ireland:
Episode 1: Introduction to the series:
Ordination to Diaconate 2015
Posted on 01. Jun, 2015 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Left to right: Fr George Hayes (Vice Rector), Monsignor Ciarán O’Carroll (Rector), Rev. Daniel Gallagher (new Deacon), Bishop Martin Drennan (ordaining Bishop), Rev. Stephen Duffy (new Deacon), Fr Hugh Clifford (Director of Formation), Fr Thomas Norris (Spiritual Director).
A Monaghan man with a background in management in the food industry and a graduate in Irish and history from the National University of Ireland Galway, students of the Pontifical Irish College in Rome, were ordained deacons on Easter Tuesday, 7th April 2015 in Rome. The liturgy was celebrated in the Church of San Silvestro in Capite, an 8th century minor basilica dedicated to Pope Sylvester I, which is under the care of the Irish Pallotine Fathers and has Cardinal Desmond Connell as its Cardinal Priest.
Rev. Stephen Duffy (38) from Ballybay, Co. Monaghan and Rev. Daniel Gallagher (25) from Bohermore in Galway City were ordained by Bishop Martin Drennan of the Diocese of Galway who travelled to Rome for the occasion. In a moving ceremony, in which the two new deacons were joined by over eighty family members and friends, Bishop Drennan reminded the two deacons that “ at the heart of life is service. Every gift that God gives is not just for ourselves. It is for others, is to be shared and will bring most joy when it is shared”. He went on to say that “we need to name accurately what cripples. High on the list is an aggressive individualism that asserts my rights, my opinions, my beliefs and gives little space to inherited wisdom, tradition, institutions. ….large swathes of our world have forgotten two basic lessons that we all need to learn – there is a God an I’m not he! It is our privilege to remind people of God”. Focusing on the Gospel of the paralytic who was lowered through the roof into the presence of Jesus, Bishop Drennan continued “The more secular our world becomes the greater the difficulty it has with the idea of forgiveness. …Healed wounds don’t hurt but the unhealed wounds certainly do and without the touch of God’s mercy they continue to cause pain….Like those who laid the paralysed man before Jesus, we are called to find creative ways to bring people to Jesus, to make openings in places that shut people off from God, to identify accurately what paralyses, to bring it along and lay it before Jesus.”
The two deacons will be ordained to the priesthood in the next year for service in their respective dioceses, Clogher and Galway. Commenting after the Mass, Monsignor Ciarán O’Carroll, the Rector of the College, said: ‘This Easter Tuesday the Pontifical Irish College community rejoices with Stephen and Daniel. We thank God for their particular vocation in life and accompany them with our prayers. I wish them every blessing and happiness in the exercise of their diaconal ministry. May they be given the grace to proclaim the Gospel in both word and deed. May they serve the people of God in their respective dioceses with love, courage, care and compassion. Inspired by the example of Pope Francis may they be true friends to the poor and the voice of the forgotten. May the Lord, who has begun such good work in them bring it to completion’.
To view photographs from the occasion, click here.
Supporting the Christians of Iraq
Posted on 20. Apr, 2015 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Fr Ragheed Ganni, as depicted in mosaic in the Irish College Chapel. Fr Ragheed was a student of the Irish College until 2003 when he returned to his native Iraq to begin his ministry as a priest. He was martyred for his faith in 2007 along with three sub-deacons in Mosul outside the Holy Spirit Chaldean Church.
For Lent 2015, the Irish College seminarians decided to dedicate the annual Lenten appeal to the persecuted Christians of Iraq. Bonds of friendship unite the College community with the postgraduate priests who have lived at the Irish College in recent years and through them, the community has an acute awareness of the suffering of the Iraqi Christians.
The total raised was €4,150. The proceeds of the collection were presented to former Irish College postgraduate student, Fr Efrem Luay Dinkha for distribution to those in need of assistance at this time. The Lenten campaign had been organised by the seminary charity officer and the seminarians of the College, but, as the seminarians had already departed for Summer holidays at the time of Fr Efrem’s visit at the end of June, the formation staff members presented the cheque to him. A big thank you to all who contributed to the collection during Lent.
Pictured at the presentation were (left to right): Fr Tom Norris (Spiritual Director), Fr George Hayes (Vice Rector), Fr Efrem Luay Dinkha, Mons. Ciarán O’Carroll (Rector), Fr Hugh Clifford (Director of Formation).
Above all, please remember the Christians and other people of Iraq in your prayers, that they shall remain strong and that they shall be delivered from harm.
The news from Iraq leaves us incredulous and alarmed: thousands of people, many Christians among them, are being driven from their homes in a brutal way; children are dying of thirst and hunger while fleeing; women abducted; people massacred; every type of violence; destruction everywhere; destruction of houses, of religious, historic and cultural heritage. Yet all of this grievously offends God and grievously offends humanity. Hatred is not borne in the name of God! War is not waged in the name of God! All of us, thinking about this situation, about these people, let us be silent now and pray.
I thank those who, with courage, are taking aid to these brothers and sisters, and I hope that an effective political solution, both at the international and local levels, can put an end to these crimes and restore law.
– Pope Francis, speaking before the Angelus, 10th August 2014
The Seven Last Words from the Cross
Posted on 19. Mar, 2015 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Crucifixion, seen from the Cross (1890) by James Tissot
Members of the College community and guests came together for a Lenten musical setting of the traditional ‘Seven Last Words from the Cross’, for mezzo-soprano, organ and cello, composed by Irish College Director of Sacred Music, Rev. Conor McCarthy in the College Chapel on Monday 23rd March 2015.
St Patrick’s Day 2015
Posted on 18. Mar, 2015 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Chiesa San Patrizio, Via Boncompagni 31.
On St Patrick’s Day, 17th March 2015, Mass for the Irish community and friends was celebrated in Chiesa San Patrizio, Via Boncompagni 31, at 10.00.
In the evening, there was a celebration of Vespers at the Irish College at 19.30, and refreshments and musical entertainment followed.
To view photographs from the day, click here.
Admission to Candidacy 2015
Posted on 05. Mar, 2015 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Left to right: Front: Stephen Duffy (new Candidate), Bishop Brian Farrell, Daniel Gallagher (new Candidate). Back: Fr Hugh Clifford (Director of Formation), Fr George Hayes (Vice Rector), Fr Alphonsus Cullinan (Bishop-elect of Waterford and Lismore), Fr Thomas Norris (Spiritual Director), Rev. Aidan McCann (Deacon for the Mass), Monsignor Ciarán O’Carroll (Rector).
Two seminarians of the Pontifical Irish College, Rome, were admitted to Candidacy for ordination to Diaconate and Priesthood by Bishop Brian Farrell, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, on 4th March 2015. The new Candidates are Mr. Stephen Duffy, for the Diocese of Clogher, and Mr. Daniel Gallagher, for the Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora. Stephen and Daniel will be ordained as Deacons on Easter Tuesday, 7th April 2015 in Basilica San Silvestro.
To view photographs of the Admission to Candidacy, click here.