Welcome, Fáilte - Diocese of Cloyne

Welcome

Fáilte, Welcome

to the website for the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne, Ireland

Bishop William Crean

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

16 February 2026

Baptised and Sent - Lenten programme in Macroom

This Lent, parishes, schools and groups across Ireland are invited to journey together through a set of reflective resources inspired by Baptised and Sent which is the preparatory document for the 2025 National Pre-Synodal Assembly in Kilkenny

Grounded in the conviction that baptism is the foundation of our identity, dignity and mission, these resources help us return to the heart of Christian life: being reborn in Christ and sent out by the Spirit in service of the Gospel

You are warmly invited to join with us each Monday evening during lent in St. Colman’s Church Parish Centre, Macroom from 7pm to 8pm

Each weeks’ Lectio Divina, offers us an opportunity to reflect on the upcoming Sunday Gospel, which is prayerfully linked to key insights from Baptised and Sent.

Facilitated by Bill Kelly

St Colman's Macroom

10 February 2026

Camp Creideamh, Catholic Faith Camps for teenagers, boys and girls, will take place again in Knockadoon (East Cork) over the dates 7th – 13th June. For those who are Post-Primary school age.

Activities will include catechesis, prayer, sports, hillwalking, kayaking, swimming, music, arts and crafts and other activities.

For bookings go to the website Camp Creideamh

For more information please call Fr. Eamon Roche on 086 9972539

Camp Creideamh - Knockadoon

04 February 2026

Cloyne Diocesan Pilgrimages 2026

The Annual Lourdes Mass - Friday 13th February 2026

Church of the Immaculate Conception, Kanturk, P51 TY36 at 7.30pm
Bishop William Crean will be the Chief Celebrant of the Mass

Cloyne Diocesan Pilgrimage to Knock - Sunday 10th May 2026

Parishes to make their own travel arrangements

Cloyne Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes 29th May – 3rd June 2026

All bookings for the Cloyne Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes should be made through Joe Walsh Tours by telephone 01-2410800, online at Joe Walsh Tours or by post to 89 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2, D02WY88. No booking is definite until a non-refundable deposit payment of €350 per person (plus insurance premium where applicable) has been receipted by Joe Walsh Tours. Early booking advisable.

Pilgrims who would like to travel with the Special Assisted Section should apply to: Cloyne Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes, c/o Parish Secretary, 27/28 Bank Place, Mallow, Co. Cork. Tel: 022-20276. This special assisted/sick section is accommodated at the Accueil Notre Dame. Acceptance for travel with the special section for the sick is subject to approval of the Pilgrimage Medical Board. The closing date for receipt of application is 31 March 2026.

Cloyne Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes 29th May - 3rd June 2026

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22 Mar 2026 - Death! Where is your victory

Latest Articles

March 2026
- Fatima Pilgrimage 2026 - Carrigtwohill Parish
February 2026
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

Annunciation

The collect for the feast of the Annunciation contains a phrase that each year makes me thoughtful.
The official English translation obscures it a bit, alas. It lets the prayer begin in this way: ‘O God, who willed that your Word Read More

Coram Fratribus

5 Sunday of Lent A

Ezekiel 37.12-14: I am going to open your graves.
Romans 8.8-11: You are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit.
John 11.1-45: Through it the Son of God will be glorified.
‘Behold, my people’, the Lord proclaimed through Ezekiel, ‘I will Read More

Coram Fratribus

Tordis Ørjasæter In her last book, published in 2024, Tordis Ørjasæter noted a childhood remembrance her husband Jo had shared from his native Gudbrandsdalen. Once, when he went to visit ‘one of the aunts on the farm, who lay dying, she bade him farewell with the words: ‘Welcome to my funeral!” What a beautiful and touching thing that even death can be an occasion to show hospitality. Yesterday, on her ninety-ninth birthday, Tordis died. It is natural, then, to evoke this motif. She was a wonderfully hospitable, generous woman. I met her first on a veranda in Assisi long ago. It was a gift to be offered her friendship, which was easy to cultivate. Quite as a matter of course we could, each time we met, pick up the thread from our last conversation. A real scholar, she had her wits about her till the end. If one needed to trace a reference in Undset, one got an immediate answer, always given with the joy of passing on knowledge that is precious and dear. The fact that her fine biography of Sigrid Undset has not been translated into English is one of life’s mysteries. Tordis was curious about eternity. Now she sees. May her memory be eternal!

Coram Fratribus

Annunciation The collect for the feast of the Annunciation contains a phrase that each year makes me thoughtful.
The official English translation obscures it a bit, alas. It lets the prayer begin in this way: ‘O God, who willed that your Word should take on the reality of human flesh’ – which is fine, of course, and exalted and true.
Still, the Latin is more radical. It prays:
Deus qui Verbum tuum in utero Virginis Mariæ veritatem carnis humanæ suscipere voluisti.
Which is to say: ‘Gud, who willed that, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, your Word should take on the truth of human flesh.’
One understands why the translators opted as they did. One sympathises with them. The collect is clearly out to stress the realism of the incarnation. To stress ‘reality’ rather than ‘truth’ forestalls any attempt at interpretation that is too notional.
That is all very well.
The fact remains: in the Church’s mother tongue, human flesh – that is, our personal embodied nature with its characteristics, gifts and deficiencies – is referred to as a bearer of truth. Truth, then, is not just something that has to do with thinking high thoughts. Truth is more than sublime abstraction. Truth is something we are called to be with our entire selves.
And after all, Jesus says, ‘I am the truth’ (Jn 14.6), not merely, ‘I tell you the truth’; but ‘I am the truth’. In an analogous way he calls us, too, to become truth entirely
We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, all our strength (cf. Mk 12.30). We are also to honour him ‘in [our] body’ (cf. 1 Cor 6.20).
The Annunciation marks the beginning of God’s incarnation. Mary’s Yes, her free consent to the Lord’s gracious plan, enables the Word to become flesh.
At the same time the Annunciation points forward towards Easter. The truth is of eternity; what is true passes not. If the flesh possesses its truth, it carries within it a seed of eternity. That seed lets us confess with confidence our faith in the resurrection of the flesh.
We are called to eternal life not just as vaguely spiritual beings but somehow (in a way we cannot yet imagine) as beings consisting of soul, mind and body.
Today’s solemnity shows God’s high regard for the flesh, a necessary part of our nature formed in his image. Let us, too, regard it highly and live worthily, truly in it.
Amen.
Medieval enamel from Limoges in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Coram Fratribus

Enjoyment In Marilynne Robinson’s Jack the eponymous hero, persuaded of his dissoluteness, ever expecting the worst, is told by a preacher: ‘Mr Ames, if the Lord thinks you need punishing, you can trust Him to see to it. He knows where to find you. If He’s showing you a little grace in the meantime, He probably won’t mind if you enjoy it.’ I thought of this while watching a decent documentary about Mahalia Jackson. Thomas Dorsey said: ‘The key to Mahalia was very simple: she enjoyed her religion.’ Having grown up with Jackson’s voice (my mother had LPs), still feeling immensely comforted by it, I wonder if this is not what I’ve always sensed, somehow, without articulating it. Mahalia, a key player in the civil rights movement, had known hardship; she had few illusions about life; yet the visceral vocal power of this woman, who ‘took the beat from the nightclubs back to the church’ is charged with joyful zest. Coming to think of it, most of us could probably risk enjoying our religion a little more.

Coram Fratribus

The Body in Eternity Today marks the third anniversary of the Nordic Bishops’ Conference’s Letter on Human Sexuality. In it, we wrote: ‘What our bodies will be like in eternity we cannot yet imagine. But we believe on biblical authority, grounded in tradition, that the unity of mind, soul, and body is made to last forever. In eternity we shall be recognisable as who we are now, but the conflicts that still prevent the harmonious unfolding of our true self will have been resolved. ‘By God’s grace I am what I am’. St Paul had to battle with himself to make this statement in faith. So, often enough, must we. We are conscious of all we are not; we focus on gifts we did not receive, on affection or affirmation lacking in our lives. These things sadden us. We want to make up for them. Sometimes this is reasonable. Often it is futile. The journey to self-acceptance passes through engagement with what is real. The reality of our lives embraces our contradictions and wounds. The Bible and the lives of saints show that our wounds can, by grace, become sources of healing for ourselves and for others.’ You can (re)read the complete text here.

Coram Fratribus

5 Sunday of Lent A Ezekiel 37.12-14: I am going to open your graves.
Romans 8.8-11: You are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit.
John 11.1-45: Through it the Son of God will be glorified.
‘Behold, my people’, the Lord proclaimed through Ezekiel, ‘I will open your gaves’. Reading this text with Christian spectacles, and so close to the solemnity of Easter, we are filled with humble wonder. To think that an inkling of Christ’s resurrection lived in the consciousness of Israel 2,500 years ago! To think how coherent God’s work of salvation is! To think that we discern straight lines in the unfailing realisation of God’s providence!
This is a true perspective. Faith lets us look back with new insight. What we know now, in the light of Christ’s revelation and gracious power, gives meaning to things that took place long ago.
We ascertain this in our own lives. The older we get, the more clearly we can consider our existence and say, in retrospect, ‘Ah! So that is why such and such a thing happened; that is why I got, or didn’t get, what I wanted just then.’ Our personal history is gradually formed into a whole, even if along the way we may experience it as painfully fragmented.
The same goes for the history of mankind. That, too, has an origin and an end. That, too, will one day appear integral.
This may seem unlikely now. The world appears singularly chaotic. But our outlook is restricted, like that of ants in an anthill. We are absorbed by micro-processes. To see things aright, we must see the world as God sees it. Just think: the sun, which God created on the first day, is approximately four and a half billion years old; but for God it is young, even as it looks young, young and bashful, to us in a March sunrise here up north
What, then, do the mere 2,500 years that separate us from old Ezekiel amount to?
Still, we must also make an effort to hear the prophet’s words as they sounded in his time. We have to remember that the thought of opened graves and the rising of the dead is not in itself sweet. For ages, and in different religious contexts, people have wished the dead rest.
Death represents a conclusion. This conclusion calls for respect. To summon forth the dead is risky. We learn this from the Orpheus myth, which tells of how a man goes to fetch his beloved, Eurydice, up from Hades. In the Old Testament, it is counted a great sin to call the dead (Lev 20). This practice can have fatal consequences, as Saul realised when he bade the witch of Endor summon Samuel (1 Sam 28). Many people have been hurt, even traumatised, by engaging in stupid spiritistic board games at parties. To cross the line between life and death is more than we can handle on our own.
If history really has a form, and if each element in it has its place, then it isn’t good news if a person suddenly turns up out of his or her own time, if only in fantasy. Films about time-travellers rarely have an entirely happy end. And it is hardly the thought of earthly bliss that draws some individuals, now, to have themselves frozen down, confident that science will one day make such advances that they, duly thawed, can live unlimitedly; they are rather motivated by an intense fear of death.
Of course: the Biblical hope of resurrection is not about prolonged human existence. Our hope, our sure expectancy, is that we shall rise to new life in God.
Paul distinguishes between the life of the flesh and the life of the Spirit in us. The flesh represents our transient, physical being whose limitations are obvious – our arthritic self. The Spirit represents that in us which cannot die, which lets us entertain our mad longing for eternity. A seed of eternity does live in our nature on account of its being created in the image of God; but that seed must be watered by God’s grace poured out upon us in Christ. For eternal life is life in him, through him, with him.
The raising of Lazarus does not confirm the part of the creed which says: ‘I believe in the resurrection of the dead’. Lazarus steps out of the grave with the same body he had before. He must yet go through physical death. What has been given him is continued existence. Jesus cures him of death understood as a disease, the way the prophet Elijah, centuries before, raised the widow’s son in Sarepta (1 Kings 17).
The events that took place by the tomb in Bethany reveal Jesus as mankind’s Physician. At the same time they have a prophetic dimension. Jesus wants to teach us something essential by the way in which he acts. That is why he did not at once set off when Mary and Martha called him; that is why he assured his disciples: ‘This sickness will not end in death, but in God’s glory’. The raising of Lazarus shows that Jesus, Lord of the sabbath, Lord of evil spirits, Lord of uncleanness and disease, is also Lord of death. When he calls, ‘Lazarus, come out!’, he constrains death from without even as, shortly afterwards, in Jerusalem, he will constrain it from within by entering it.
In the Cistercian tradition, we commemorate Martha, Mary, and Lazarus as hospites Domini, ‘hosts of the Lord’, on a feast day that by God’s providence falls on the same day as that of our St Olav, 29 July. The three siblings were the Lord’s friends. They provided him with rest, care, a good meal. In their company he lets us glimpse the power that, at Easter, will utterly destroy the reign of death and let Christ’s holy resurrection shine forth as the sun in a new universe that will never end.
May we live faithfully as Jesus’s friends and hosts. And may he break down in us all that which belongs to death in order to make us ready to really live.
Amen.

Photograph of the sun from the website of NASA.

Photos from Cloyne Diocese's post Today, March 25th, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation.
The Solemnity of the Annunciation celebrates the coming of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary to announce to her the special mission God had chosen for her in being Read More 13 Likes

Posted: 3 days ago

#HolyWeek2026
Please post your Parish Holy Week - Easter Schedules in this post @everyone 12 Comments

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Posted: 4 days ago

Photos from Cloyne Diocese's post 🌼 Today is Daffodil Day 🌼
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We have gratitude for the gift of fantastic treatments.
And we send love and blessings to all who Read More 1 Comments

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Posted: Last week

Br Jean-Marie from the Taizé community will be in Cork at a Taizé prayer on Thursday 26th March at 6pm in the Honan Chapel UCC. All are invited.

Posted: Last week

Fatima Pilgrimage 2026 - Carrigtwohill Parish

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

Baptised and Sent - Lenten programme in Macroom

Baptised and Sent - Lenten programme in Macroom

Camp Creideamh - Knockadoon 7th - 13th June 2026

Camp Creideamh, Catholic Faith Camps for teenagers, boys and girls, will take place again in Knockadoon (East Cork) over the dates 7th – 13th June. For those who are Post-Primary school age.

Cloyne Diocesan Pilgrimages 2026

Cloyne Diocesan Pilgrimages 2026

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