St Patrick’s Day Message from Bishop Seamus Hegarty, Bishop of Derry and Chair of the Bishops’ Council for Emigrants

As we embark on this Jubilee year, Pope Francis reminds us of an urgent need: the right to education for all children and youth.

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Pope Francis -
“Today we’re experiencing an “educational catastrophe.” This is no exaggeration. Due to wars, migration, and poverty, some 250 million boys and girls lack education.

All children and youth have the right to go to school, regardless of their immigration status.

Education is a hope for everyone – it can save migrants and refugees from discrimination, criminal networks, and exploitation…. So many minors are exploited! It can help them integrate into the communities who host them.
Education opens the doors to a better future. In this way, migrants and refugees can contribute to society, either in their new country or in their country of origin, should they decide to return.

And let’s never forget that whoever welcomes the foreigner, welcomes Jesus Christ.

Let us pray for migrants, refugees and those affected by war, that their right to an education, which is necessary to build a more human world, might always be respected.”

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By the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostolate of Prayer and the Eucharistic Youth Movement): https://www.popesprayer.va/ The Pope Video: https://thepopevideo.org/

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Fr Paul Finnerty, Rector of the Irish College in Rome, on the invitation for people to come to Rome during the Jubilee Year as pilgrims of hope and to follow the tradition of passing through the Holy Doors in the Papal Basilicas.

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“Christian hope is a gift from God that fills our lives with joy.”

In this last month of the year, and on the threshold of Jubilee 2025, the Pope reminds us how vital it is to cling to hope. “The world really needs it a lot!”

Pope Francis invites us to seek those encounters with Christ that revitalize our being, that encourage us to make a pilgrimage toward hope during the upcoming Jubilee, so that it might be a year to strengthen our faith.

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“Let us pray that this Jubilee strengthen us in our faith, helping us to recognize the Risen Christ in the midst of our lives, transforming us into pilgrims of Christian hope.”

"Christian hope is a gift from God that fills our lives with joy.
And today, we need it a lot. The world really needs it a lot!
When you don’t know if you’ll be able to feed your children tomorrow, or if what you’re studying will allow you to get a good job, it’s easy to get discouraged.

Where can we look for hope?

Hope is an anchor – an anchor that you cast over with a rope to be moored on the shore. We have to hold onto the rope of hope – hold on tight.
Let’s help each other discover this encounter with Christ who gives us life, and let’s set out on a journey as pilgrims of hope to celebrate that life. And entering into the upcoming Jubilee is the next stage within that life.
Day by day, let us fill our lives with the gift of hope that God gives us, and through us, let us allow it to reach everyone who is looking for it.
Don’t forget – hope never disappoints.

Let us pray that this upcoming Jubilee strengthen us in our faith, helping us to recognize the Risen Christ in the midst of our lives, transforming us into pilgrims of Christian hope."

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By the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostolate of Prayer and the Eucharistic Youth Movement): https://www.popesprayer.va
To see other videos and content about the Pope’s prayer intentions, go to: https://www.thepopevideo.org/

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An in-depth interview with Archbishop John Kennedy, Secretary for Discipline at the
Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Archbishop John shares with us his vocation story, how he came to work in the Vatican and the challenge of leading the Discipline office that deals with cases of the abuse of minors by clergy, which he calls 'the worse of the worst'.

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Seamus Mulconry, Sec Gen of the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association, calls for equal capitation funding for Primary and Post-Primary schools.

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Michael Kelly discusses the importance of the Week of Witness and Red Wednesday which is a week of campaigning and prayer for persecuted Christians around the world when Churches are lit red.

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Seamus Mulconry details the range of services provided by the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association which includes training and advocacy and their helpline which handles 16,000+ calls a year.

More info - https://www.cpsma.ie/

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Michael Kelly discusses 'Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2022-24' produced by Aid to the Church in Need which highlights the reality that Christian persecution has significantly worsened globally.

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Julieann Moran reflects on the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality in Rome and how the Final Document provides a roadmap for a Synodal Church with training and formation as the primary objective.

Julieann Moran is the Gen. Sec. of the Synodal Pathway for the Catholic Church in Ireland.

for more info - https://synod.ie/

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Bishop Brendan Leahy gives an in-depth review of the Synod on Synodality, his experience in Rome, the final document, what reforms should not follow on and what lies ahead for the Synodal Pathway for the Irish Church.

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'The Rock from Which You Were Hewn: The Lives and Legacy of Holy Irish Men and Women' edited by Patrick Kenny and Fr John Hogan.

This book presents brief biographies of over 40 modern Irish men and women whose causes for canonization are in process, along with others who enjoy a strong reputation for sanctity. Written in response to Pope Benedict XVI’s call to the Irish to renew the Church in Ireland by drawing on the legacy of holiness offered by their ancestors, this book details the heroic lives of more recent saintly models to encourage contemporary Catholics to seek holiness in their lives.

Featuring chapters written by various contributors, including the postulators of some of the causes, the book offers moving insights into the subjects themselves and the times and places in which they lived. All are native-born Irish, some lived and died in Ireland, and some were missionaries in other countries as was often the Irish experience for a great part of its modern history.

Among those whose inspiring lives are told include Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, Fr. Willie Doyle, S.J., Father Edward Flanagan, Frank Duff, Sister Clare Crockett, Venerable Patrick Peyton, Venerable Matt Talbot, Venerable Edel Quinn, Blessed John Sullivan, Blessed Columba Marmion, Little Nellie, Archdeacon Cavanagh of Knock, and many more.

Published by Cenacle Press
https://cenaclepress.com/products/the-rock-from-which-you-were-hewn-1
and internationally by Ignatius Press

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Alan Hynes, CEO of the Catholic Education Partnership, discusses with Wendy what defines a Catholic school and the call for divesting more schools from Catholic patronage.

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A 30 min talk by Jesse Rogers (St Patrick's College, Maynooth) which offers many insights into 'God's ways of being with children and children's ways of being with God'. Jesse also invites the teacher to see how classrooms can become a mutual exchange of blessing and can lead to a spiritual renewal for the teacher.

This talk was commissioned and made available by Elphin Diocese.

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Commissioner Drew Harris talks to Wendy on the CAPTIVES programme, about the work of An Garda Síochána in regard to preventing human trafficking and how people can play their part.

CAPTIVES is produced by Act to Prevent Trafficking (APT) and includes a four part series for Post-Primary Students. Series 2 coming soon.

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Ronan Mullen joins Wendy in studio to discuss the proposals before the Oireachtas to legalise assisted dying and the moral and ethical implications of State sanctioned suicide. Senator Mullen urges people to raise their objections with their politicians as we face into an election.

The Irish Catholic Bishops Conference have voiced their opposition and have called on TDs to reject the recommendations to Government from the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying to legalise assisted dying.

The Irish Bishops are also calling for greater State investment in palliative care.

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Bishop Brendan Leahy says that the Final Document from the #SynodonSynodality will greatly assist the Synodal Pathway - Ireland

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Julieann Moran reflects with Fr Bill on the historic moment when Pope Francis formally approved the Final Document as official teaching for a #Synodal Church and how it will now guide the Synodal Pathway of the Catholic Church in Ireland ... more reports to follow ... #synodonsynodality

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He Loved Us - Dilexit Nos ...

Bishop Brendan Leahy shares a reflection of the new encyclical from Pope Francis which invites the wounded world 'to regain the most important and necessary thing of all: its heart.'

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Bishop Alan McGuckian reflects on the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality in Rome, the final document and the upcoming Jubilee Year of Hope.

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Pope Francis has called a Jubilee Year for 2025 with the the theme 'Pilgrims of Hope'. Bishop Brendan Leahy reflects on the tradition of the Jubilee Year which brings millions of pilgrims to Rome.

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