Caption Pope Francis blessing engaged couple, Denis Nulty and Sinead Keoghan, in Saint Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, during the 9th World Meeting of Families in August 2018, and other images show Bishop Denis Nulty blessing engaged couples in 2024 in the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Whitefriar Street, Dublin. (Catholic Communications Office archive)
- At 2.00pm today view blessing of engaged couples and rings by Bishop Denis Nulty on the Catholic Bishops’ Facebook livestream, followed by the 3.00pm celebration of Mass offered for all engaged and married couples on the Whitefriar Street Church webcam
- Bishop Nulty: “Having the security of a home is an essential start for any couple, for any family” – see homily below to be delivered at 3.00pm in Whitefriar Street Church.
Today at 2.00pm, at the Shrine of Saint Valentine in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Whitefriar Street in the Archdiocese of Dublin, Bishop Denis Nulty, Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin and President of Accord CLG, led the annual blessing of two engaged couples:
❤️ Louise O’Reilly and David Lovett, who had their first date at ‘The Exchequer’, near Grafton Street, Dublin, on 17 February 2011, they have been inseparable ever since and will celebrate fourteen wonderful years together this month and plan to get married in 2026. Both from Dublin, the couple live in the Saint Brigid’s parish of Castleknock, where they recently welcomed their new-born daughter, Lexi.
❤️ Margaret Gleeson and Jimmy Moynihan first connected through theIreland’s Own magazine as penfriends. Both widowed, they found love and are planning to marry on 22 May. Hailing from Dublin, they are both members of the parish of Saint Alphonsus and Columba, Ballybrack, in the Archdiocese.
Accord research on marriage, family and housing
In the context of the continuing decline in “the crude marriage rate” reported by the Central Statistics Office, and the ongoing housing crisis, Accord, the Catholic marriage care service, commissioned Amárach Research to undertake a survey to determine the level of correlation between couples deciding to marry and have children, and the availability of housing supply.
According to Tony Shanahan, Director of Accord CLG, “the survey’s headline results are
significant and striking” as they report:
– 84% of adults in Ireland say that the housing crisis is causing some couples to delay getting married and/or have children: this rises to 89% of women (79% of men);
– 54% of those aged 25-34 years plan to get married and/or have children;
– 48% of couples planning to get married would have married before now if it wasn’t for the housing situation (33% would have married in the past three years but didn’t); and,
– 60% of couples planning to have children would have done so before now if it wasn’t for the housing situation (36% would have had a child in the past three years but didn’t).
Further findings from the survey, and its methodology, are available below.
Mr Shanahan continued, “On behalf of Accord, I wish to warmly congratulate Louise and David, and Margaret and Jimmy, and all couples, on their forthcoming marriages.
“Today Accord publishes an Amárach survey that reveals the extent to which the lack of housing supply is impacting on the decision-making of couples who wish to get married and have children. This has serious social implications now and into the future. Possible practical responses might include Government acting to streamline and simplify the planning process to amend housing regulations for older properties to bring vacant units back into use. The hope that young people hold for a married life together, and to start a family, needs to be underpinned by certainty in a functioning and affordable housing market. However, there is no single housing market. Different demographics have different needs, and public policy should incentivise development initiatives geared towards the provision of accommodation solutions appropriate to each demographic.”
Also released today was the 2024 island-wide data for couples participating in Accord marriage preparation courses, which amounted to 5,194, compared to 7,281 couples in 2023.
ENDS
- Homily of Bishop Nulty for Mass in the Carmelite Church, Whitefriar St, Dublin
Introduction
It is a great joy once again to celebrate Mass here in the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Whitefriar Street. The Carmelites came here 200 years ago and the foundation stone for this powerful edifice of worship was laid in 1826. I thank the Prior, Father James Eivers, and the Carmelite team here, for the warm welcome. This is the church associated with the relics of Saint Valentine. Saint Valentine’s Day is next Friday, so we are anticipating the feast so to speak!
Just before Mass, at the shrine here beside us, I was delighted to bless the rings of two engaged couples – David Lovett and Louise O’Reilly; Jimmy Moynihan and Margaret Gleeson – where the relics have been venerated since the 1950s. I have been coming to the Shrine for this particular ceremony for many years now and I am always moved by the number of couples and individuals who call in to spend time to reflect and pray at the shrine.
In our Mass we pray for both couples but also for all others preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage. In the same way I welcome those who have come here today especially to renew their vows, their love, their commitment to one another.
In today’s first reading we continue the creation account from the Book of Genesis with the creation of man; tomorrow we will move on to the account of the creation of woman. Mark’s gospel today reminds us of what man has made of creation, language, behaviour, attitudes that have sullied and darkened God’s creation and so we pray …
– Is tusa Tobar na Trócaire – You are the wellspring of mercy: A Thiarna, déan trócaire.
– Is tusa Slí na Fírinne – You are the way of Truth: A Chríost, déan trócaire.
– Bí linn i gconaí, ós ár gcomhair amach – Be with us always, showing us the way. A Thiarna, déan trócaire.
Homily
‘I Want You To Be Happy’ (Hodder & Stoughton, 2025) is the appeal of Pope Francis and is the cleverly written title of a recent publication, containing several bite-sized messages. God planted happiness in the souls of each of us. He wants us to be happy. But so often we misread the signs and seek happiness and fulfilment in all the wrong places. Mark’s gospel rhymes off that list in case we are not sure, and it makes for uncomfortable reading: “evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.” (Mk.7:21-22)
Seeking fulfilment in these places does not lead to happiness. Celebrating Saint Valentine’s Day is the exact opposite to this unsettling list.
Saint Valentine, despite the little we know of him, represents love. We have commercialised the day and saint over the years, but the essential message remains true that “God is love and those who live in love, live in God.” (1Jn.4:16)
I recall an initiative around the 9th World Meeting of Families hosted in Dublin in August 2018, an initiative that attempted to de-commercialise Saint Valentine’s Day. It offered several ways of celebrating the day without as much as putting your hand in your pocket or tapping your card. Ideas of the heart such as a technology-free evening; setting aside time to pray together; going for a hand-in-hand walk together; loads of tender hugs; taking a journey down memory lane, recalling how you met and how your relationship has grown.
In my office at Bishop’s House, Carlow, on one wall I look on the wedding photographs of nieces and nephews, the most recent addition is Eleanor and Alan’s, who were married in the Cathedral in Carlow on 11 October last; and Leo and Shauna who got married in late 2023, and that of Roisín and Mark in 2022. Photographs like these give me great joy. Being invited to officiate at the weddings of nieces and nephews is an absolute privilege, and not one that I, or any celebrant, should take for granted.
In Ireland, the numbers celebrating sacramental weddings continue to slip according to the Central Statistics Office, with the figure of 34% as per the statistics relating to 2023. The very same year saw 32.2% civil ceremonies. Perhaps sacramental marriage is going through a vocations crisis? We need to do much more to promote the sacrament.
It is incumbent on people of faith to do our best to promote all that is wholesome about sacramental marriage, inviting God into your union, what could be more beautiful? It is in many ways revolutionary to become sacramentally married today. All of us have huge respect for the journeys that both David and Louise, and Jimmy and Margaret are on. Two very different journeys regarding timespan, but the same sacrament. The self-emptying of Christ into the broken and fragile world of every couple takes place with the celebration of every sacramental marriage. We are all broken and fragile. Marriage is a gift from God, and couples who choose that gift are supported and accompanied by many blessings and graces, including preparation programmes and supports offered by Accord through its three autonomous companies on this island: Accord Northern Ireland, Accord Dublin and Accord CLG which represents the remainder of the country.
Saint Valentine’s Day commemorates a martyred saint who died on the Flaminian Way in Rome in 269AD after secretly marrying two Christian couples. The reliquary here in Whitefriar Street was the gift of Pope Gregory XVI to the Carmelite priest Father John Spratt in 1836. I am told the shrine as we know it is here since the 1950’s. As I mentioned earlier I am moved by the volume of people who visit, write an intention, light a candle, offer a prayer. As we see in the shrine, facing Saint Valentine’s Shrine is that of Saint Jude, so there always is a fall back! I am not sure what Saint Valentine would make of all the business that love has become – the cooing doves, the cherubs, the cards, the websites, the chocolates, the flowers – not that we don’t enjoy an occasional spoiling, but let’s not overdo it! Happiness costs nothing. And we should celebrate it at least annually. As always, I encourage the regular celebration of anniversaries!
Pope Francis reminds us “if we were to ask people to express their life’s dream in one word, it would not be difficult to imagine the answer: ‘Love’” (‘I Want You To Be Happy’, pg.140) … And the Holy Father suggests the opposite to ‘I’ is not ‘You’, but ‘We’, and that is what makes sacramental marriage revolutionary. A couple in the presence of family and friends, as part of a faith community pledging their love for each other. They dare to dream and dream big. A sacrament allows us into God’s dream.
A good Marriage Preparation Programme can help a couple grow in self-awareness and awareness of each other. It offers insights into what makes a marriage a good marriage and what sustains goodness and being the best husband and wife a couple can be, for the good of each other and if blessed with children, for the good of them too. The parish community welcomes the involvement of young newlyweds into the life of their parish.
Today I am very conscious that for some couples the pressure to own their own home, hold down a secure job, have a promising career path – these pressures can be very challenging and demanding. The reported queue on Saturday morning last (‘They were gone in minutes’: Dozens of first-time buyers miss out as new Kildare homes snapped up, thejournal.ie, 8 February 2025) of several first time buyers as new houses in a Kildare estate were snapped up within minutes of their launch, shows the worry this is to many young couples. Having the security of a home is an essential start for any couple, for any family.
Let us return to happiness and all that Saint Valentine’s Day represents. While our reading from the Book of Genesis focused today on the creation of man, for those attending Mass tomorrow we will hear of the creation of woman. These are very beautiful readings that remind all of us we are made for more. We are made in God’s image and likeness. The Uruguayan journalist, novelist and poet, Mario Benedetti puts it beautifully:
“Your hands are my caress
My daily reminders
I love you because your hands
Work hard for justice.
“Your eyes are my lucky charm
Against the bad days
I love you for your gaze
That watches and seeds the future.
“I love you in my paradise
By which I mean my country
Where the people live happily
Even if they have no time off.
“If I love you it’s because you are
My love my accomplice my all
And out in the street arm in arm
We are much more than two”.
Every couple who celebrates a sacramental marriage are much more than two. Blessings in abundance on each and all of you as we all prepare to celebrate the feast of Saint Valentine. Amen.
- Archbishop Dermot Farrell is Archbishop of Dublin. Father James Eivers O.Carm is Prior, and Father Eánna O hÓbáin O.Carm is Parish Priest of Whitefriar Street Church. The survey methodology used by Amárach involved a national representative sample of 1,000 adults, aged 18 and over, throughout the Republic of Ireland. The survey took place in January 2025 and was conducted online with the Amárach panel using the Amárach omnibus survey. Other findings from the survey are: –
- 69% of 25-34s say the cost of owning a house (mortgage rates etc) is causing them to delay getting married and/or have children.
- The lack of housing where they live is causing a delay for 39% of affected couples, and the cost of renting for 37% of couples: non-housing related reasons are a cause of delays for 19% of couples.
- Photographs of today’s blessing of engaged couples in Whitefriar Street Church will be available to media for publication from John McElroy on +353 (0) 87 241 6985 and by email [email protected].
- Accord was established in Belfast in 1962 and today its marriage preparation and couples counselling services are offered island-wide in more than 50 centres. Accord is managed from three corporate centres based in Maynooth, Dublin and Belfast. Accord’s Sacramental Marriage Preparation programme is grounded in the real life experience of couples today. It is purposeful, encouraging and fully oriented towards emphasising the good and beautiful aspects of married life. It is also very practical in providing couples with exercises, tools and resources to communicate more effectively with each other and to manage conflict constructively. Feedback from couples indicates how informative and useful they have found the programme, how engaging, relaxed and enjoyable it has been and, most significantly, that the programme has prompted them to discuss topics about their relationship that they have previously not thought to discuss or avoided discussing. For information on Accord courses, or on becoming a marriage facilitator with Accord, please see accord.ie or contact us by email [email protected] and phone: 01 5053112.
- In Catholic teaching the exchange of marriage vows creates a covenant between the couple and it is the most absolute promise two people can make to each other. The couple’s Christian baptism is what enables them to bestow the Sacrament of Marriage on each other. The presence of a bishop, priest or deacon is necessary to have as an official witness on behalf of the Church, but it does not replace the couple’s role as ministers of the Sacrament. As Pope Francis stated in his 2016 Apostolic Exhortation on love in the family, Amoris Laetitia, The Joy of Love, “May we never lose heart because of our limitations, or ever stop seeking that fullness of love and communion which God holds out before us” (Chapter 9).
- The holy relics of Saint Valentine are contained in a reliquary within a dedicated shrine in Whitefriar Street Church. The church was founded by Father John Spratt (1796-1871) in 1825 on the site of the 13th century Carmelite Monastery, and was opened in 1826 when he became its first Prior. Father Pratt was renowned in Europe for his skill as a preacher. Following a visit to Rome in 1835, Pope Gregory XVI was so impressed that he gave Father Pratt a reliquary containing relics of Saint Valentine, which he brought back to Dublin. Saint Valentine was a priest who performed marriage ceremonies in defiance of the Roman emperor Claudius II’s edict, and was martyred on 14 February in 269 or 270 AD.
