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Bishop William Crean

12 September 2024

Sunday 8th September, Mass was celebrated for the Indian Community in St. Mary’s Church, Carrigtwohill to celebrate the Birthday of Our Lady, followed by a Procession to Our Lady's Grotto and a celebration.

Munster Konkans, a community of families originating from Mangalore in South West India, and currently living in and around the Munster region, gathered together for the celebration of ‘Monthi Fest’ (Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary) on Sunday, 8th September.

This is the biggest family feast of the year in the Konkan culture, and is also celebrated as a harvest festival, where the first fruits, vegetables, and grains of the season are offered to God in a gratitude for His blessings.

Carrigtwohill Parish - Mass celebrated for the Indian Community

Bringing Lourdes to the Faithful

September 15^th - 16^th 2024

The visitation of the holy relics is an opportunity to have Lourdes come to our diocese so that we can all experience the pilgrimage in Lourdes at home in Cloyne.

Petitions

There will be an opportunity for pilgrims to leave petitions and personal intentions to Our Lady of Lourdes and St Bernadette.

Petitions should be written at home and brought to the churches. A petition box will be located at the Marian shrines in the churches.

Veneration of the relics ends at 9pm each evening in both churches.

Our Lady of Lourdes help our faith!

Visit of the Relics of St. Bernadette to the Diocese of Cloyne

23 August 2024

September 2024

Bishop William Crean, Bishop of Cloyne, has made the following new appointments which will come into effect on Saturday September 14th 2024.

V. Rev Jeremiah O’Riordan P.P. Donoughmore to retire and become Pastor Emeritus (P.E.)
Rev. Fr. Eamonn McCarthy, Spiritual Director, Radio Maria, Dublin, to become P.P. Donoughmore. Fr. Eamonn will also serve as Diocesan Co-ordinator of our celebration of the Jubilee Year 2025 with its theme “Spes non confundit” Hope does not disappoint.
Rev. Fr. Andrew Carvill C.C Mallow to be Administrator of Mourneabbey Parish while continuing to reside in Mallow
Rev. Fr. Brendan Mallon, Chaplain to Pobalscoil na Tríonóide, Youghal to serve as C.C. in the parish of Cloyne
V. Rev Michael Dorgan P.E. C.C. to retire and continue to reside in Ballycotton as Assistant Priest.
Rev. John Keane C.C. Macroom to serve as Assistant Priest in Youghal.
Mrs. Maureen Walsh, Sec. of the Diocese of Cloyne Safeguarding Committee to become Chairperson in succession to Mr. Willie Keane who has served in the role for 11yrs and for whose sterling leadership and commitment we are deeply indebted.

I, as Bishop, and the people of the Diocese are deeply grateful to our priests for their generosity of spirit and commitment.

I’m grateful to those involved in these new appointments. Change always involves uprooting from the familiar to new and less known people and situations. We are indebted to all for their generous spirit of service to the people of God entrusted to them.

Their ministry is a sharing in the commitment of so many people, priests, religious and lay women and men who quietly, yet so effectively, nurture faith and life in our parishes.

The Jubilee Year 2025 (Holy Year) has been designated a celebration of Hope – which never disappoints. Sadly, the lives of too many are marked by despair and darkness. Our faith enables us to be people of light. But we need each other to nurture that hope in and for one another.

We, in the Diocese of Cloyne, are blessed with the ministry of so many priests still. It is important that parish communities who have witnessed the decline in attendance wake up to loss of purpose and meaning that is taking place in and among us.

Let this Year of Jubilee be a graced time for us to put fresh heart into our families, schools and parishes.

Let us pray for those taking on new assignments. We pray the blessing of contentment upon them.

+ William Crean

Bishop of Cloyne

Further information: Contact Fr Jim Moore

22 August 2024

The Season of Creation is a time to renew our relationship with our Creator and all of creation through celebration, conversion, and commitment together

The season starts on 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for Creation, and ends 4 October, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations.

During the Season of Creation, we join our sisters and brothers in the ecumenical family in prayer and action as the world’s 2.2 billion Christians come together to care for our common home.

Season of Creation: 1 September to 4 October 2024

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22 Sep 2024 - My peace I give you

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Coram Fratribus

Conversation with Christoph Paul Hartmann

You can find this conversation, made in the wake of the Nordic Bishops’ Conference election of a new president, online here. You can find an English translation of the interview by scrolling down.
Herr Bischof Varden, hat Sie die Wahl überrascht Read More

Coram Fratribus

Fischer Alfred Brendel has spoken of everything he owes the great Edwin Fischer, once remarking that he had never heard anyone make the piano sing like Fischer. One can hear what he means in this recording of Beethoven’s fourth concerto. The first movement cadenza is moving. Is it Fischer’s own? The greatest marvel, though, is the beginning of the second movement, which, as Ingmar Bergman observed in a famous interview, is a reluctant dialogue between the orchestra and the piano. ‘Beethoven lets the orchestra be in a bad mood – just listen and hear how angry it is! Then the piano comes in and says: “I will comfort you”‘, only to be told, ‘No one can comfort me!’ The piano, however, doesn’t give up: ‘What tenderness!’ ‘Eventually the orchestra starts listening, and the movement ends in peaceful understanding.’ Fischer draws us into this parable of gracious perseverance.

Coram Fratribus

Don’t Procrastinate From today’s Mass reading (Proverbs 3.27-34):
‘My son, do not refuse a kindness to anyone who begs it, it is in your power to perform it. Do not say to your neighbour, “Go away! Come another time! I will give it to you tomorrow”, if you can do it now.’
It can seem, perhaps, a simple counsel, but in fact, if taken seriously, the path indicated here is of high charity and self-transcendence. I have seen with my own eyes that it can be a path to holiness.

Coram Fratribus

Presence This bust of Marcus Aurelius, produced in the late second century, was acquired by Norway’s National Gallery in 1966. Standing in front of it this morning I was entranced. To call it lifelike is a banal understatement. There is life in it, somehow, and a quality of presence that carries through the centuries. What vitality there can be in marble; and how inadequate the verbiage we leave behind, now, as our putative legacy to posterity is to a single such portrait. The emperor is still young; an adolescent beard is struggling to form. What is striking is his gaze – probing, intelligent, lucid, and not at peace. We are confronted with the face of one alert to the earnestness of existence. It makes me think of a phrase from the Meditations: ‘Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw away. Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something while you live and it is in your power’ (IV.17).

Coram Fratribus

Conversation with Christoph Paul Hartmann You can find this conversation, made in the wake of the Nordic Bishops’ Conference election of a new president, online here. You can find an English translation of the interview by scrolling down.
Herr Bischof Varden, hat Sie die Wahl überrascht oder haben Sie schon so ein bisschen damit gerechnet?
Wahlen sind immer überraschend und unvorhersehbar. Aber die Nordische Bischofskonferenz ist nicht groß. Ich wusste, dass die Gefahr besteht, dass ich es werde, hatte aber nicht besonders viel daran gedacht.
Was haben Sie in Ihrem neuen Amt vor?
Das Evangelium verkünden. Versuchen, ein glaubwürdiger Repräsentant der frohen Botschaft zu sein. Ich bin der Überzeugung, dass wir in der Mitte eines kulturellen Umbruchs sind in unseren Ländern. Die skandinavischen Länder sind äußerst säkularisiert und das seit Jahrzehnten. In einem gewissen Sinne ist dieser Prozess jetzt abgeschlossen. Aber der Mensch bleibt Mensch, er sucht Sinn, Schönheit und Wahrheit. Ich stelle fest, dass viele Leute auf der Suche sind. Für die Evangelisierung eine zwar schwierige, aber auch spannende Zeit.
In Nordeuropa gibt es viele Menschen, in deren Familien schon seit Generationen der Glaube kaum noch eine Rolle spielt. Wie wollen Sie denen einen Zugang zu Spiritualität vermitteln?
Viele suchen von selbst. Da muss man das Wort hörbar machen und für diese Aufgabe alle vorhandenen Kanäle intelligent verwenden. Die Kirche kann einen konstruktiven Beitrag für die Kultur und den politischen Diskurs leisten, dafür müssen wir uns auch in der Gesellschaft zeigen. Wir haben mehr zu sagen als immer nur “Nein”. Das ist zwar der Eindruck, den viele Menschen haben, aber ich denke, wenn wir gut zuhören und für die Zeichen der Zeit und die Fragen der Zeit aufmerksam sind, finden wir auch Antworten. Das alles tun wir in der Bewusstheit aus der Osternacht, dass Jesus Christus heute, morgen und für immer derselbe ist. Als Wort des Lebens bietet er auch in unserer Zeit segensreiche Antworten.
Können Sie dafür ein Beispiel nennen?
Bei uns in Norwegen ist die Weltkirche sehr konkret vertreten. In der Prälatur Trondheim gibt es nach der Statistik ungefähr 20.000 Katholiken, die aus 130 Ländern kommen. Das ist eine unglaubliche Vielfalt in Sprache und Kultur. Die Mannigfaltigkeit der Sensibilitäten ist offenbar. Eine der Fragen unserer Zeit ist ja gerade, was es heißt, Gesellschaft zu sein, Volk sein. Ohne unsere kleine Kirche hier zu idealisieren, kann ich aber sagen, dass wir für diese Fragen ein Beispiel geben, wie aus großer Vielfalt trotzdem eine Einheit aufgebaut werden kann. Das ist ein sehr wichtiges christliches Zeugnis heute und etwas sehr Katholisches. Denn wir haben tiefe Wurzeln in unserem eigenen lokalen Zusammenhang, leben aber auch in der Bewusstheit, zu etwas Größerem zu gehören. Gerade diese Spannung auszuhalten ist ein Zeichen für unsere Zeit.
Wie funktioniert das denn in der Praxis? Das katholische Leben ist geprägt von großen Distanzen und extremer Diaspora.
In der Begegnung von Menschen und indem wir unsere Türen weit öffnen. Die Kirche muss ein Treffpunkt für den Gottesdienst sein, aber auch darüber hinaus. Eine Heimat, in der man sich wohlfühlt und für die man sich verantwortlich fühlt, in der gesprochen, gekocht und gespielt wird, wo man sich gegenseitig hilft. Denn auch in einem vorgeblich reichen Land wie Norwegen wächst die Armut, das karitative Wirken wird also immer wichtiger. Zudem leben die Leute weit auseinander. Zur nächsten Kirche sind es nicht selten zwei Autostunden. Wer diesen Einsatz am Sonntag leistet, möchte auch maximal davon profitieren. Das heißt, nach der Messe sind alle zusammen, unterhalten sich, essen zusammen, die Kinder spielen zusammen und lernen sich kennen. Es geht am Ende nur durch die konkrete menschliche Gemeinschaft.
Wie in anderen Regionen Europas auch gewinnen in Nordeuropa rechte Parteien an Zuspruch. Erfahren Sie das als eine Bedrohung für eine katholische Kirche, die sehr migrantisch geprägt ist?
Man muss bei diesen Strömungen europaweit aufpassen, dass wir unser kollektives Gedächtnis nicht verlieren. Denn wir wissen, was daraus erwachsen kann. Allerdings sehe ich es auch mit der Bibel, die davor warnt, zu viel Angst vor der Angst selbst zu haben. Das gilt vor allem beim Thema Migration, hinter dem die Frage steht, über die wir eben schon gesprochen haben: Was macht uns als Gesellschaft eigentlich aus? Da muss man kritisch und vernünftig sein, denn das ist sehr angstbesetzt. Die Katholiken hier sind da aber nicht so auf der Zielscheibe. Natürlich gibt es Rassismus und ich kann die Entwicklung in den kommenden Jahren nicht absehen. Aber die Auseinandersetzungen in unserem Nachbarland Schweden sind doch deutlich schärfer und schroffer als bei uns. Im Allgemeinen verhält sich die Politik hier intelligent in solchen Fragen.
Haben Sie da persönlich ein besseres Standing als Ihre Vorgänger, da Sie der erste gebürtige Norweger auf diesem Posten sind?
Das würde ich nicht sagen. Ich bin mit 16 Jahren weggezogen und habe den Großteil meines Lebens im Ausland verbracht, erst mit 46 bin ich zurückgekommen. Genauso wie ich Norweger bin, fühle ich mich also auch als Ausländer – in meiner jetzigen Rolle nicht unbedingt ein Nachteil.
Die katholische Kirche in Norwegen ist sehr klein, gerade einmal drei Prozent der Menschen sind katholisch. Werden Sie da in der Gesellschaft überhaupt gehört?
Die Lage verändert sich. Wir müssen uns daran gewöhnen, dass wir nicht mehr so klein sind wie vor 30 Jahren. Hauptsächlich durch Immigration ist die Kirche in unseren Ländern in den vergangenen 25 Jahren sehr gewachsen. Prozentual bleiben wir in Norwegen eine winzige Minderheit, aber wir sprechen immerhin von 250.000 Katholiken. Davon sind viele jung und profilieren sich im öffentlichen Leben. Wir haben da unser Wort zu sagen, und die Gesellschaft erwartet das auch von uns. Das habe ich hier kurz nach meinem Amtsantritt in Trondheim gemerkt: Die Bürgermeisterin hat uns Bischöfe aufgefordert, uns aktiv in die Gesellschaft einzubringen. Das müssen wir ernst nehmen und dafür sollten wir dankbar sein.
Viele der katholischen Zuwanderer in Norwegen sind nicht in gutbezahlten Berufen beschäftigt. Das heißt: Trotz Wachstum ist es finanziell oft knapp für die Kirche. Wandelt sich da auch etwas?
Das ist eigentlich immer noch so. Unsere Ressourcen sind materiell und personell knapp. In meiner Kurie hier gibt es nur zwei Mitarbeiter in Vollzeit – und einer davon bin ich. Unsere Strukturen sind klein, wir haben wenige Räumlichkeiten. Eigentlich bräuchten wir Kirchen, Schulen und Kindergärten. Manchmal sind die vielen Leerstellen überwältigend. Aber aus meiner Klosterzeit weiß ich: Im christlichen Leben ist es nicht immer von Vorteil, materiell gesichert zu sein. Armut, geistig und auch materiell gesehen, ist eine christliche Wesensart. Natürlich wollen wir eine Kirche für die Zukunft bauen und unseren Nachfolgern etwas übergeben. Aber so wie es ist, erfahren wir dafür, dass uns viele Menschen in nah und fern verbunden sind und wir uns gegenseitig helfen. Da freut man sich über jeden kleinen Schritt.
Ist die Kirche in Nordeuropa damit auch ein Vorbild für die Weltkirche, von der sich Papst Franziskus nicht zuletzt wünscht, dass sie arm ist?
Das würde ich nicht so sagen: ich sehe uns keineswegs als vorbildlich. Wir versuchen einfach mit unserer Realität im Vertrauen auf den Glauben umzugehen, um daraus etwas Schönes zu machen, den Menschen zum Segen und dem Herrn zu Ehren.
* * *
Bishop Varden, did the election come as a surprise or had you to some extent expected it?
Elections are always surprising and unpredictable. Still, the Nordic Bishops’ Conference is not large. I knew there was a certain risk, but hadn’t thought about it much.
What do you plan to do in office?
Proclaim the Gospel. Try to be a credible ambassador of the good news. I am convinced that we’re in the middle of a cultural shift in our countries. The Scandinavian countries have for decades counted as being very secularised. In a certain sense this process has now come to an end. Yet the human being remains a human being, seeking meaning, beauty, and truth. I ascertain that many people are seeking. This is a difficult but also an exciting time for evangelisation.
In Northern Europe there are many people in whose families the faith has played no part for several generations. How do you propose to give such people access to spirituality?
Many are already looking for it. Our task is to make the Word audible. For this purpose we must use all available channels intelligently. The Church has a constructive contribution to make to culture and to political discourse; for this reason we must be visible in society. We have more to say than merely, ‘No!’. Many people have the impression that we don’t; still, I think that as long as we listen carefully, open to the signs and the questions of our time, we shall find answers as well. We go about this task in the consciousness of what is proclaimed during the Easter Vigil: that Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday, and for ever. As the Word of Life, he provides for our times, too, answers charged with benediction.
Can you give us an example?
Here in Norway, the Church’s catholicity is palpably evident. In the prelature of Trondheim there are, according to official statistics, some 20,000 Catholics from 130 countries. There is an incredibly plurality of languages and cultures. The diversity of sensibilities is obvious. One of the urgent questions of our times is this: What does it mean to constitute a people? Without wishing to idealise our small Church in these parts, I’d say that we respond to these questions with an example showing that it is possible to build unity out of diversity. That is a crucial testimony today; it stands for something intrinsically Catholic. For we are deeply rooted in our particular context while having, at the same time, the awareness of being part of something greater. To persevere in this tension is a sign for our times.
How does this work in practice? Catholic life is marked by great distances, great scatteredness.
In encounters among people and in as much as we keep our doors wide open. The Church is a place in which we come together for the liturgy, but there is more. The Church is also a home in which one feels at ease, for which one feels responsible, a place in which people talk, cook, and play together, where we help one another. For even in an affluent country like Norway poverty is on the rise, so that charitable enterprise becomes ever more important. It is true that people live far apart. Many drive for two hours to get to church. Those who make this trip on Sunday, want to make the most of it. So after Mass, everyone gathers. People talk and eat together; kids play and get to know each other. All this is only possible through concrete human fellowship.
As in other parts of Europe, the Nordic countries, too, see that right-leaning parties gain ground. Do you see this as a threat to a Catholic Church that is largely a migrant Church?
With regard to these currents, we must take care not to lose our collective remembrance. For we know what they can grow into. At the same time, I often think of a verse from Scripture that warns us not to fear where there is no fear. That applies not least to migration, which provokes the question we have already address: What in fact constitutes us as a society? We must be both critical and sensible when addressing this issues, which is charged with anxiety. I wouldn’t say that Catholics here are particularly targeted. Yes, there is racism; and I wouldn’t dare to prophesy how things will develop in the years to come. I am aware that the fronts are sharper, harsher in Sweden, just next door. But in general the political establishment engage with these questions intelligently.
Do you personally have a better standing than your predecessors, in as much as you are the first native Norwegian in this office?
I wouldn’t say so. I left Norway at 16 and have spent the greater part of my life abroad. I only returned when I was 46. I am Norwegian, certainly; but I also feel like a foreigner – and that isn’t necessarily a disadvantage in my current role.
The Catholic Church in Norway is small, only about three percent of the population are Catholic. Does society pay any attention to you at all?
The situation is changing. We must get used to the fact of no longer being as small as we were just thirty years ago. The Church in our countries has grown a great deal in the past quarter-century, chiefly through immigration. Percentagewise we remain a small minority in Norway; nonetheless we are speaking of some 250,000 Catholics. Many of these are young; many are vocally present in public life. We have a contribution to make. And society expects that of us. I was alerted to this shortly after taking up office here in Trondheim. The mayor of the city addressed us bishops challenging us to take an active part in society. We should take such incitements seriously; and we should be grateful for them.
Many of the immigrant Catholics in Norway work in low-income professions. That is to say: even though the Church is growing you struggle financially. Is something changing in this respect, too?
The situation is still pretty much unchanged. Our material and personal resources are very limited. In my curia there are only two people working full-time, of whom I am one. Our structures are modest; we have few properties. We could do with more churches, schools, kindergartens. At times one can feel overwhelmed by everything waiting to be done. But I know from my time as an abbot: in Christian life it is not always an advantage to have perfect material security. Poverty, spiritual and material, is a touchstone of Christian authenticity. Of course we want to build up the Church for the future. We want to pass something on to those who come after us. As things are, we experience that people near and far are bound together in close communion, assisting one another. That way you rejoice in every little forward step.
Is the Church in the Nordic countries an example for the global Church, for which Pope Francis has often voiced an aspiration to greater poverty?
I wouldn’t put it like that; I don’t see us as exemplary in any way. We are simply trying to engage with our particular reality with hope and trust. We want to make of it something beautiful, for our good and to the Lord’s glory.
Seljumannamesse.

Coram Fratribus

Election & Call Pope Francis has often referred movingly to the reading from St Bede that the Church gives us today, on the feast of St Matthew, especially to the phrase ‘miserando atque eligendo’, his episcopal motto. It is characteristic of Bede, that most humane of writers, to highlight the mercy at work in Christ’s election of his apostle – for a call is always gratuitous, independent of any merit real or imagined. It is equally characteristic that he, a monk through and through, should stress the utter self-surrender that must mark our response to such mercy, for to follow Jesus, he says, means ‘imitating the pattern of his life, not just walking after him’. Jesus subverted Matthew’s familiar world, not obliterating it, but showing its insufficiency to fulfil the supernatural desire that lay dormant in him. In this respect the drama of the apostle’s call remains paradigmatic for us all. It challenges us to consider afresh our own call and our loyalty to it now.
http://coramfratribus.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Miserando-atque-eligendo.m4a

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Posted: 9 hours ago

Celebration of Creation and Harvest in Kanturk Church Thursday September 26th at 7.30pm.
The celebration will consist of a service of prayer, reflection, scripture, music and ritual including a Harvest procession. All welcome. 2 Likes

Posted: 17 hours ago

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Posted: 17 hours ago

Today is the feast day of St. Cosmas and Damian, the patron saints of pharmacists 🙏
These two brothers were born in the third century in Syria and were trained to be physicians - as per Christian traditions.
They were talented medical Read More 12 Likes

Posted: 20 hours ago

'𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧' 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
On 𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒, Fr. Philip Kemmy will deliver a talk on ‘𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧’ aimed particularly at 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐬 and those involved in 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲.
Evangelization is a fundamental aspect of Read More

Posted: Yesterday

Carrigtwohill Parish - Mass celebrated for the Indian Community

Sunday 8th September, Mass was celebrated for the Indian Community in St. Mary’s Church, Carrigtwohill to celebrate the Birthday of Our Lady, followed by a Procession to Our Lady's Grotto and a celebration.

Visit of the Relics of St. Bernadette to the Diocese of Cloyne