Welcome, Fáilte - Diocese of Cloyne

Welcome

Fáilte, Welcome

to the website for the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne, Ireland

Bishop William Crean

04 June 2026

Cloyne Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes
Grotto Mass

Last September I opened my door to welcome Harry. Harry is a rescue dog. He had known some rough days but realised quickly that he was safe and had found home. He loves our walks, dragging me out every day. He is happy out sitting at my feet whether I am praying, reading, or watching the telly. He loves drives in the car. He is almost the perfect dog. ALMOST! Why? Well because when he is alone things go wrong. Whether it is last Saturdays Irish Examiner, or next Sunday’s homily notes, nothing is safe. He can turn them into confetti in seconds. It is probably true for all of us, when we try to go it alone things go wrong. Here as we contemplate the Annunciation, we remember that the Word who yearned to be born into our world is the same one who tells us, “I am with you always.”.
A couple of weeks ago Harry tried a different approach to deal with his separation anxiety, he found a collection of poetry, and he devoured it. Thankfully leaving the poem I will now share with you intact. It is called,

Annunciation by Malcolm Guite

Lourdes Grotto

Changes to Mass schedule will commence 7 June in Cloyne and Aghada Parish

Sat 6 June	6:00pm	(Vigil) St Colman's Church, Cloyne
Sun 7 June	9:00am	Start of the Sea Church, Ballycotton
Sun 7 June	9:30am	St Mary's Church, Ballinrostig
Sun 7 June	10:15am	Church of the Immaculate Conception, Shanagarry
Sun 7 June	11:00am	St Erasmus Church, Aghada

Sat 13 June	6:00pm	(Vigil) St Colman's Church, Cloyne
Sun 14 June	9:00am	St Colmcille's Church, Churchtown South
Sun 14 June	9:30am	St Mary's Church, Ballinrostig
Sun 14 June	10:15am	Church of the Immaculate Conception, Shanagarry
Sun 14 June	11:00am	St Erasmus Church, Aghada

Sat 20 June	6:00pm	(Vigil) St Colman's Church, Cloyne
Sun 21 June	9:00am	Start of the Sea Church, Ballycotton
Sun 21 June	9:30am	Church of the Mother of God, Saleen
Sun 21 June	10:15am	Church of the Immaculate Conception, Shanagarry
Sun 21 June	11:00am	St Erasmus Church, Aghada

Sat 27 June	6:00pm	(Vigil) St Colman's Church, Cloyne
Sun 28 June	9:00am	St Colmcille's Church, Churchtown South
Sun 28 June	9:30am	Church of the Mother of God, Saleen
Sun 28 June	10:15am	Church of the Immaculate Conception, Shanagarry
Sun 28 June	11:00am	St Erasmus Church, Aghada

Masses will revert to the usual times from Sunday 5th July 2026

Cloyne Aghada Mass Schedule June 2026

28 May 2026

Shalom Charleville Parish Retreat Centre Co. Cork P56 YP79

Wednesday 17th June 2026, 11:30am - 3:30pm

Booking is Essential

For bookings please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 083-440 5359

The Priests Apocalypse

03 March 2026

Carrigtwohill Parish Pilgrimage to Fatima 7th - 14th September 2026

Spiritual Director: Fr. Patrick Winkle

Direct return flights from Cork to Faro, with Bus to and from Fatima included
Full Board - breakfast, lunch and dinner each day
7 nights Hotel Steyler
Limited number of places
€1045 (single supplement extra) - limited single rooms, insurance is also extra
20kg baggage included with Aer Lingus flight.
Guided tours and full spiritual programme

Please make enquires to Fr. Patrick Winkle 021-4882439 or Joe Walsh Tours 021-2427190 or 01-2410800
Or book direct online with Joe Walsh Tours

2026 CARRIGTWOHILL PATRICK WINKLE 07 SEP CORK FARO Fatima Pilgrimage 2026

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Latest Homily

31 May 2026 - The Most Holy Trinity Solemnity - Basilic of Pope St. Pius X Lourdes

Latest Articles

June 2026
- Homily by V. Rev. Tom McDermott Adm - 2nd June 2026
May 2026
- Cloyne/Aghada Pastoral Area - Changes to Mass Schedule June 2026
- The Priest's Apocalypse - 17th June 2026
March 2026
- Fatima Pilgrimage 2026 - Carrigtwohill Parish
October 2025
- Bishop Crean meets Pope Leo
September 2025
- "Behold I'm doing a new thing" says the Lord (Isaiah 43)
February 2025
- Recent picture of St. Colman's Cathedral, Cobh. Co. Cork
October 2024
- Light a Candle at St. Colman's Cathedral

Coram Fratribus

Corpus Christi

5 Mos 8.2-16: Glem ikke Herren din Gud!
1 Kor 10.16-17: Fordi der er ett brød, er vi også ett legeme.
Joh 6.51-58: Den som spiser dette brød, skal leve i all evighet.
Herrens nattverd ble innstiftet i stor fortrolighet. Jesus tok Read More

Coram Fratribus

The End of Desire

Simon Stisen describes himself as ‘the Pentecostalist Pastor who came out of the closet’. In his podcast Greatest of all he investigates different aspects of faith and sexual orientation in conversation with a variety of people. I was recently privileged Read More

Coram Fratribus

Justin Martyr

It should make us think that Justin Martyr was decapitated for the sake of his faith during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, that most philosophical of emperors whose sayings you can find on websites called things like ‘Inspiring Thoughts for Read More

Coram Fratribus

Corpus Christi 5 Mos 8.2-16: Glem ikke Herren din Gud!
1 Kor 10.16-17: Fordi der er ett brød, er vi også ett legeme.
Joh 6.51-58: Den som spiser dette brød, skal leve i all evighet.
Herrens nattverd ble innstiftet i stor fortrolighet. Jesus tok disiplene med seg bort fra Jerusalems bråkete gater inn i en velordnet sal. Der velsignet og brøt han brødet. Der tok han kalken, takket og rakte den til disiplene mens han sa: “Dette er mitt blod, paktens blod, som utgytes for mange.” De tolv spiste og drakk. Nattverden var en skjult pakt, først. Den var, for å si det på gresk, et mysterium.
I apostolisk tid, og lenge deretter, ble nattverden feiret hemmelig. Mens det ennå var ulovlig å kalle seg kristen, mens Caesar la beslag på hele mennesket og mente han selv var gud, var det for farlig å feire mysteriet åpent. Man ville utlevere de kristne. Man ville risikere at sakramentet ble vanhelliget.
Først på 300-tallet, da Keiser Konstantin til manges forundring erklærte seg kristen, ble kirkene et integrert, monumentalt element i antikkens bybilde.
En katolsk kirke eksisterer for nattverdens skyld. Andre sakramenter feires også der, selvsagt: Barn døpes, ungdom konfirmeres, ektepar vies, geistlige vigsles, syke salves, synder tilgis. Men det er eukaristien som binder alt sammen. Som vi lengter etter den, når vi ikke kan motta den korporlig! Selve vår lengsel er da en edel, høy form for tilbedelse som rører Guds Faderhjerte. Bevisstheten om at Herren er tilstede i vigslet Brød og Vin vokste i Kirken gjennom tusen år. Midt på 1200-tallet, på St Torfinns tid, mens Olav Audunssønn drømte om Hestviken, fikk bevisstheten liturgisk form. En fest ble innstiftet for å ære Jesu Legeme og Blod. Thomas Aquinas skrev vidunderlige tekster som vi ennå ber: “Deg eg tilbed, guddom, som på altarbord/duld i teikni dine bur hjå oss på jord./Upp mot deg mitt hjarta, hug og tankar dreg,/alt for meg vert burte, når eg skodar deg.” Dagen i dag kaller oss først og fremst til taus tilbedelse, til å måpe over Guds nærhet.
Men Kirken visste seg også forpliktet til å vise budskapet for verden. I Høymiddelalderen hadde man ennå sans for at universet henger sammen. Så falt det naturlig at man, på Corpus Christi, bragte Kristi Legeme ut av kirken, inn i gatene. Vi får åpenbare mysteriet. Ordet ble kjød for å frelse verden. Han er Emmanuel, “Gud med oss”. han vil omslutte alt og alle. La verden se det og juble!
På 1500-tallet, da såkalte reformatorer fornektet realismen i nattverden, lot Corpus Christi katolske kristne formidle til en stadig mer rasjonalistisk og kynisk samtid at, nei, Herren forlater ikke sitt folk. Han forblir ydmykt trofast mot sitt løfte. Vi får gjenkjenne ham og tilbe ham i sakramentet, kilden til vår salighet.
En Corpus Christi-prosesjon kan sjokkere uinnviede. Den kan også vekke ubevisst søkende sjeler. Sigrid Undset forteller hvordan møtet med Realpresensen rystet en norsk maler som, 25 års tid før hun selv ble født, hadde studert kunst i Düsseldorf. Maleren, en veloppdragen ung mann trygg i sin lutherdom, var slentret ut for å bevitne Corpus Christi i 1854. “Lysene, baldakinen og prestene som gikk og bar denne greien, i gullbroderte silkeklær — det var malerisk, naturligvis, og [han] lå i Düsseldorf for å male. Men da folkemassene på fortauet datt på kne og mannfolkene blottet hodene, kunne [han] ikke annet enn smile der han stod rett op og ned i hele sin lengde, med kunstnerhatten på sitt bølgende kunstnerhår. — Neste øyeblikk skvatt de op, mennene rundt ham, hatten røk av den fremmede og bortover gaten.” Da ante han med ett: Den Hellige er her! Maleren var Karl Schilling. Erfaringen der på gaten ble begynnelsen på hans omvendelse. Kort tid etterpå ble han katolikk, med tiden en hellig prest. Kirken anerkjenner ham som en forbilledlig kristen. “Fem minutter før jeg ble katolikk”, skrev Schilling senere, ante jeg ikke hva det hele handlet om.” Det som skulle til, var å se voksne folk knele ærbødig for Herrens Nærvær. Overfor en sånn virkelighet, kunne han ikke beholde hatten på. Den måtte av, like Moses’ sandaler ved den Brennende Busk.
Vi spør oss ofte hvordan vi kan formidle vår tro til en samtid som synes likegyldig. Schillings erfaring gir oss et svar: Ved å ære Guds hellighet — og selvsagt, ved å leve deretter. Schilling losjerte hos en katolsk familie. Det var de som vennlig forklarte ham hva som er på ferde til Corpus Christi. Han la vekt på at han skyldte familien mye. “Den fullkomne utlevelse av tro jeg så blant dem, bragte meg mer enn all verdens apologetisk litteratur.” Det nytter visst lite å slå hatten av andre for deres ufromhets skyld hvis jeg ikke selv lever et evangelisk liv.
Da Pater Karl Schilling lå på sitt dødsleie i 1907, sa han til noen unge som var kommet for å by ham farvel: “Dere må bli helgener, store helgener”. Så sa han, som sitt siste testamente, “Min Jesus, gjør det slik at jeg alltid må elske dig mere og mere.” Den Hellige er blant oss for å nære oss til hellighet, så vi kan vandre slik han vandret, i vårt lønnkammer og i det offentlige liv, ute på gatene. Amen.

Coram Fratribus

Another Cardinal Everyone knows Otto Preminger’s movie The Cardinal from 1963, but why had I not until recently heard of Peter Glenville’s The Prisoner from 1955? That film, too, is about a cardinal, a Prince of the Church in an unidentified country run by a totalitarian regime in the wake of the Second World War. It is in essence the record of a drawn-out process of interrogation designed to break down an upright character. An interrogator – on the face of it a humane man, a doctor from a cultured background – picks the cardinal apart in systematic fashion, subjecting him to solitary confinement interspersed with sessions of manipulation, prodding the priest’s weak point: his humility. Alec Guinness is remarkable as the cardinal. Bosley Crowther, who could be fierce as a critic, noted 71 years ago that he plays ‘a role of tremendous emotional and intellectual complexity. And he does so with such clarity and feeling that it strikes the very marrow in your bones.’ Guinness was received into the Catholic Church in 1956. Playing this role had something to do with it.

Coram Fratribus

Critical Severity I recently came across this observation in GS MacKenzie’s Travels in the Island of Iceland from 1811: ‘In all departments of literature, there is a strong disposition among the Icelanders to critical severity; and in theological writings more especially, this severity has occasionally assumed a very rigorous form. A curious instance of this kind occurred about a hundred years ago, when an unfortunate man was publicly whipped, as a punishment for the errors he had committed in a translation of the book of Genesis’ (pp. 303-4). I wonder what those stern, austere readers would have made of Deepl or ChatGPT.

Coram Fratribus

The End of Desire Simon Stisen describes himself as ‘the Pentecostalist Pastor who came out of the closet’. In his podcast Greatest of all he investigates different aspects of faith and sexual orientation in conversation with a variety of people. I was recently privileged to be Simon’s guest. What is the finality and end of human desire? How does grace act in our lives? Is there a way through disorder to order? Is there not a risk attaching to the hyper-eroticisation of sexuality in contemporary discourse? These are some of the questions we addressed in a conversation you can find – in Norwegian – here.
Simon refers to the Nordic Bishops’ Conference on Human Sexuality from 2023. This is how that letter concludes:
Many are perplexed by traditional Christian teaching on sexuality. To such we offer a word of friendly counsel. First: try to acquaint yourself with Christ’s call and promise, to know him better through the Scriptures and in prayer, through the liturgy and study of the Church’s full teaching, not just of snippets here and there. Take part in the Church’s life. The horizon of the questions with which you set out will be enlarged in this way, as will your mind and heart. Secondly, consider the limitations of a purely secular discourse on sexuality. It needs to be enriched. We need adequate terms to speak of these important things. We shall have a precious contribution to make if we recover the sacramental nature of sexuality in God’s plan, the beauty of Christian chastity, and the joy of friendship, which lets us see that great, freeing intimacy can be found also in non-sexual relationships.
The point of the Church’s teaching is not to curtail love but to enable it. At the end of its prologue, our 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church repeats a passage from The Roman Catechism of 1566: ‘The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends. Whether something is proposed for belief, for hope or for action, the love of our Lord must always be made accessible, so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love.’ By this love the world was made, our nature formed. This love was made manifest in Christ’s example, teaching, saving passion, and death. It is vindicated in his glorious resurrection, which we shall celebrate with joy during the fifty days of Easter. May our Catholic community, so many-faceted and colourful, bear witness to this love in truth.
St Mary of Egypt and the Monk Zosima.

Coram Fratribus

Justin Martyr It should make us think that Justin Martyr was decapitated for the sake of his faith during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, that most philosophical of emperors whose sayings you can find on websites called things like ‘Inspiring Thoughts for Every Day’ where readers adorn them with cute little pink hearts and shooting-star emoji.
It is possible, then, to talk volubly and well about the meaning of existence yet, at the same time, to run a totalitarian system with little room for freedom of thought and conscience.
The story of Justin’s martyrdom is touching. He accounts for his faith with pregnant utterances. When the inquisitor asks him to worship the emperor at least a little bit, Justin says: ‘No sensible man descends from pity to impiety!’ On behalf of himself and his four companions, he declares: ‘Do with us what you like, but we are Christians, and we will not sacrifice to idols.’
A like clarity is found in many early acts of martyrs. Justin, though, had a clearer understanding of his faith than most. He was a philosopher by training. He knew the currents of his day, a hodgepodge of truth-claims not entirely unlike the one we confront in the chaos of our time.
Justin considered this reality analytically and steadfastly.
Having become a Christian, certain that the Word made flesh is the hermeneutic key to all things, he tried that key everywhere. If Christ is the Word whereby all things came into being, he thought, he must have left a trace on all that is. Then it should be possible to seek an impression, an image, a reflection of the Word in improbable places.
That is how Justin came to formulate the lovely notion of the logos spermatikos, the ‘word sown abroad’. It presupposes the Gospel’s parable of God as the Sower. The Word is generously sown throughout the universe in order to nurture humankind. We must gather in its harvest carefully, wisely.
Justin’s conviction that God’s goodness can be sought, and potentially found, in all created things, in any sincere quest for truth, gave him strength to stand firm in the final trial, his heart on fire with a love that knows no boundaries.
Icon of St Justin, whose feast occurs on 1 June, by Theophanes the Cretan. Wikimedia.

Today June 7th we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is also known as the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, which translates from Latin to "Body of Christ."
This feast calls us to focus on two Read More 7 Likes

Posted: 11 hours ago

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Congratulations on your Golden jubilee Canon Donal

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Posted: Yesterday

✨CORPUS CHRISTI 2026 ✨
The Corpus Christi Procession will take place following 12 noon Mass next Sunday, 7th June.
Once Mass has ended, we will process out of the Cathedral, across the road and into the Garden of Reflection. We invite Read More 2 Likes

Posted: Yesterday

Today is the day when many people will ask us, "How was #CloyneLourdes2026?"
The truth is, it's hard to put into words. Lourdes is more than a place; it's an experience. It's the friendships formed, the kindness shared, the faith renewed, Read More 7 Likes

Posted: 3 days ago

Wishing you all the very best of luck and our thoughts and prayers 🙏🏻 1 Comments

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

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Posted: 4 days ago

Homily by V. Rev. Tom McDermott Adm - 2nd June 2026

Cloyne Diocesan Pilgrimage to LourdesGrotto Mass

Cloyne/Aghada Pastoral Area - Changes to Mass Schedule June 2026

Changes to Mass schedule will commence 7 June in Cloyne and Aghada Parish

The Priest's Apocalypse - 17th June 2026

Shalom Charleville Parish Retreat Centre Co. Cork P56 YP79

Fatima Pilgrimage 2026 - Carrigtwohill Parish

Carrigtwohill Parish Pilgrimage to Fatima 7th - 14th September 2026

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Cloyne Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes
Grotto Mass