Achonry youth – Camino walk

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“being little is a blessing” – Pope Francis

Pope Francis tells Kazakhstan’s small Catholic community ‘being little’ is a blessing

Pope Francis speaking in Our Mother of Perpetual Help Cathedral on Sept. 15, 2022 | Vatican media

Pope Francis in Our Mother of Perpetual Help Cathedral on Sept. 15, 2022 | Vatican Media

Pope Francis with religious sisters in Our Mother of Perpetual Help Cathedral on Sept. 15, 2022 | Vatican Media

Pope Francis praying in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. | Rudolf Gehrig / CNA

Pope Francis praying in Our Mother of Perpetual Help Cathedral on Sept. 15, 2022 | Vatican Media

Pope Francis speaking before the icon in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual in Nur-Sultan, Kazakstan. | Rudolf Gehrig / CNA

Pope Francis blesses the icon in Our Mother of Perpetual Help Cathedral on Sept. 15, 2022 | Vatican Media

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By Courtney Mares

Rome Newsroom, Sep 15, 2022 / 02:13 am

Speaking to priests, religious sisters, and missionaries living in Kazakhstan, where Catholics make up less than 1% of the population, Pope Francis on Thursday said that God’s power is made manifest when “we acknowledge our littleness.”

“The Gospel says that being little, poor in spirit, is a blessing, a beatitude, and indeed the first of the beatitudes,” Pope Francis said in Nur-Sultan’s Cathedral of Our Lady Of Perpetual Help on Sept. 15.

“There is a hidden grace in being a small Church, a little flock, for instead of showing off our strengths, our numbers, our structures, and other things that are humanly important, we can let ourselves be guided by the Lord and humbly draw close to others,” he said.

Pope Francis in Our Mother of Perpetual Help Cathedral on Sept. 15, 2022. Vatican Media

Kazakhstan is a majority-Muslim country home to an ethnically diverse minority of Catholics — an estimated 125,000 out of the Central Asian country’s population of 19 million.

The former Soviet country was the site of one of the largest systems of collective labor camps in the Soviet Union, the KarLag. It is estimated that a million political prisoners passed through KarLag to toil in its extensive complex of mines over the decades from 1931 to 1959, including thousands of persecuted Polish, Ukrainian, German, Lithuanian, and Belorussian Catholics.

Pope Francis recalled the “great witness of faith” of Blessed Władysław Bukowiński, a priest who spent more than 10 years in Soviet gulags proclaiming the Gospel to the other prisoners sentenced to forced labor. Bukowiński was beatified in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, in 2016.

“I am told that even before his beatification there were always fresh flowers and a lighted candle on his tomb. This is a confirmation that the people of God can recognize holiness, and a pastor in love with the Gospel,” Pope Francis said.

The pope began his third and final day in Kazakhstan with a private meeting with local Jesuits at the apostolic nunciature before traveling to the cathedral to pray with the local priests and religious from Kazakhstan and other neighboring Central Asian countries.

Pope Francis outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Sept. 15, 2022. Vatican Media

Musicians played a traditional Kazakh song for Pope Francis when he arrived at the cathedral in a wheelchair. A new icon depicting Mary and the Child Jesus as native Kazakhs was then unveiled above the altar.

Inside the cathedral, the pope listened to testimonies from the rector of the only Catholic seminary in Central Asia, a religious sister, a father of five children, and the wife of a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest.

Pope Francis commented: “I was struck by a recurring theme in all the testimonies we heard … that in the Church, shaped by the Gospel, we learn to pass from selfishness to unconditional love.”

Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents.

Some events of interest

Keash Parish Calendar 2023

Parish Calendar – Photo’s relevant to the Parish.

Parishioners are invited to email relevant photographs that may be suitable for placing in the parish Calendar for 2023, or any other suggestions they may want included. It may not be possible to put everyone’s photo in and we have to remain conscious of Data Protection but every effort will be made to accommodate all.

North West Hospice coffee morning

North West Hospice Coffee Morning.

The North West Hospice Coffee Morning will take place on Friday September 23rd from 10.30am -1.00pm in the White Hall Keash, Hosted by Kathleen Feely and Breda Forkin. Your support is greatly appreciated, all welcome.

Pope John Paul l beatified

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Pope John Paul I Beatified

BY FRANCES D’EMILIO, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pope Francis has beatified one of his predecessors, John Paul I – a briefly serving pontiff who distinguished himself with his humility and cheerfulness, and whose abrupt death in his bedroom in 1978 shocked the world and fuelled suspicions for years about his demise.

The ceremony in St Peter’s Square on Sunday constituted the last formal step in the Vatican before possible sainthood for Albino Luciani, an Italian who died 33 days after being elected pontiff.

John Paul I “with a smile, communicated the goodness of the Lord”, Francis said in his homily.

Francis encouraged people to pray to the newly beatified churchman to “obtain for us the smile of the soul”.

Last year, Francis approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of John Paul I – that of the recovery of a critically ill 11-year-old girl in 2011 in Buenos Aires.
Now a young woman, Candela Giarda told a Vatican press conference last week in a video message that she had wanted to attend the ceremony but could not because she recently broke her foot while training in a gym.

Seated under a canopy outside St Peter’s Basilica, Francis led the ceremony, which was punctuated by booms of thunder, flashes of lightning and pouring rain, prompting cardinals, bishops, the choir and thousands of rank-and-file faithful in the square to open umbrellas.

When elected pontiff on August 26, 1978, Luciani, 65, had been serving as patriarch of Venice, one of the church’s more prestigious positions.

In that role as well as that previously as a bishop in north-eastern Italy, Luciani sounded warnings against corruption, including in banking circles.

In his short-lived papacy, which concluded with the discovery of his body in his bedroom in the Apostolic Palace, John Paul I immediately established a simple, direct way of communicating with the faithful in the addresses he gave, a style change considered revolutionary considering the stuffiness of church hierarchy.

Those who have campaigned for him to be made a saint have stressed his deep spirituality and his tireless emphasis on key Christian virtues – faith, hope and charity.

“Let us pray, in his own words: ‘Lord take me as I am, with my defects, with my shortcomings, but make me become what you want me to be,’” Francis said.

John Paul “lived without compromise”, Francis said, hailing Luciani for having ”conquered the temptation to put one’s ‘I’ at the centre or to seek glory”.
Although the Vatican said John Paul died of a heart attack, it gave conflicting versions of the circumstances of how his body was discovered.

First it said a priest who served as his secretary found him, but it later acknowledged John Paul was found dead by one of the nuns who brought him his customary morning coffee.

With a huge financial scandal developing at the time in Italy involving figures who had links to the Vatican’s bank, suspicions quickly took root in the secular media that perhaps Luciani was poisoned because he intended to root-out wrongdoing.

Books speculating on the circumstances surrounding his death, especially since no post-mortem was carried out, sold millions of copies.

Pope John Paul l and President Carter

Jimmy Carter was ‘greatly inspired’ by the prayers of John Paul I

AP Photo (JPI) and DOD. Department of the Navy. Naval Photographic Center [Public domain], via Wikimedia

I.Media for Aleteia – Kathleen N. Hattrup – published on 08/30/17

President and “The Smiling Pope” exchanged messages during the 33-day pontificate

Right at this time 44 years ago, the Church was in the midst of one of the shortest papacies in history: that of Pope John Paul I, who was pope from August 26, 1978, until his sudden death from a heart attack 33 days later, on September 28.

(He shares the record for the 10th shortest papacy with Benedict V, who was pope from May 22–June 23, 964.)

The ongoing research into the life of John Paul I — who was known as “The Smiling Pope” — including the recent discovery of a hitherto unpublished letter to US President Jimmy Carter, written at the time when Carter received at Camp David the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The world leaders went on to sign the Camp David Accords on September 17, 1978.

Pope John Paul’s letter encouraged the American head of state to achieve a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. After two weeks of intense negotiations and the adoption of the peace treaty, Jimmy Carter responded to the pope, assuring him he was “greatly inspired” by his prayers.

Benedict’s support

Pope Benedict XVI has had a hand in the progress of the cause.

The German Pontiff is an advocate for his predecessor, remembering him as “unforgettable for all of us” in 2005, when he greeted the faithful of the Diocese of Belluno-Feltre who, together with their bishop, Monsignor Giuseppe Andrich, were in Rome “to make a grateful and prayerful remembrance” of John Paul I on the anniversary of his death.

Benedict XVI in fact gave testimony for the beatification cause, it was reported in 2015. This was possible after his retirement, since as pope, he was unable to be a part of the cause which would eventually be his responsibility to approve.

In 2006, Benedict was given a preview of the film Pope Luciani: God’s Smile. He said:

In particular, we have been able to revisit the sweet and gentle figure of a Pontiff who was strong in faith, firm in principles but ever ready with a welcome and a smile. Faithful to tradition and open to renewal, the Servant of God Albino Luciani, as Priest, Bishop and Pope, was unflagging in his pastoral activity, constantly encouraging clergy and lay people alike to pursue in the various fields of the apostolate the one common ideal of holiness. A teacher of truth and a passionate catechist, he reminded all believers with his customary fascinating simplicity of the work and joy of evangelization, emphasizing the beauty of Christian love, the one force that can defeat violence and build a more fraternal humanity. Lastly, I would like to recall his devotion to Our Lady. When he was Patriarch of Venice he wrote: “It is impossible to conceive of our life, the life of the Church, without the Rosary, the Marian feasts, Marian shrines and images of Our Lady”. It is beautiful to accept his invitation and, as he did, to find in humble entrustment to Mary the secret of daily serenity and effective work for peace in the world.

The intercession of John Paul I is credited with a miracle in the life of Giuseppe Denora, who in 1992 was suddenly healed from a malignant stomach tumor after he sought Pope Luciani’s intercession.

Beatification of Pope John Paul I

By Hannah Brockhaus(CNA)

Rome Newsroom, Sep 3, 2022 / 07:45 am

The young woman who was miraculously healed through the intercession of Pope John Paul I will not attend his beatification in Rome Sunday as planned.

The 22-year-old Candela Giarda explained in a video recorded from Argentina that she had broken her foot and was unable to travel to Italy.

“Unfortunately we can’t go because my foot is broken, but surely at some point we will be able to go to the tomb of John Paul I,” Giarda said in the video. Giarda was close to death in July 2011 when her mother and local Catholic priest Father José Dabusti prayed for her healing through the intercession of Servant of God Pope John Paul I.

Soon afterward, the 11-year-old Candela began to show signs of improvement, and around six weeks later she was discharged from the hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

After the Vatican investigation into Candela’s healing concluded, Pope Francis recognized the event as a miracle obtained through the intercession of John Paul I on Oct. 13, 2021, paving the way for his beatification.

Giarda thanked “Pope John Paul I for this second chance at life that he gave me; and to Pope Francis for inviting us to his beatification.”

Pope Francis will beatify Venerable John Paul I during Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Sept. 4.

Sometimes called “the smiling pope,” John Paul I reigned for only 33 days, from Aug. 26 to Sept. 28, 1978.
Roxana Sosa, Candela Giarda’s mother, said in the video that they are “very excited, because it is something very important that they beatify the pope thanks to Cande’s miracle.”

“What happened with Cande may help other people to have a little more faith, of hope in the face of difficult times like the ones we are experiencing,” she said. “We appreciate the prayers offered and we entrust ourselves to the prayers of Pope Francis and we are going to continue praying for him.”

The priest who prayed with Roxana Sosa the night the doctors said there was nothing else they could do for Candela will attend John Paul I’s beatification Sept. 4.

At a press conference in Rome Sept. 2 Father José Dabusti said he has often been asked why he suggested the woman entrust her daughter to John Paul I’s intercession.

“That evening of July 22, 2011, when I was called by a mother, Roxana, to go to the bedside of her dying daughter, and looking at her in that condition I was inspired to turn to John Paul I to ask for the healing of her little girl, and together with her, and with some nurses present, I prayed to him,” he said.

“Until that moment I had never prayed to John Paul I for healing,” the priest said, but he explained that the pope had inspired him at his election, which happened when Dabusti was just 13 years old.

“I was really struck by the election and the person of Pope Luciani: I saw that he was very simple and very happy,” he said. “These two traits had caught my attention and aroused my admiration, above all, my spontaneous affection for him.”

After that day, Father Dabusti said he kept a portrait of Pope John Paul I in his room: “Growing up, I begged him to help me discern which vocation to follow.”

“And I am certain that Albino Luciani was a mysterious spiritual father and a silent but effective intercessor for me in deciding to embrace the priestly vocation,” he said.

Fr Ragheed Ganni

From CNA

By Rody Sher

Erbil, Iraq, Aug 19, 2022 / 02:40 am

It has been fifteen years since the martyrdom of Father Ragheed Ganni, the Chaldean priest of the Holy Spirit parish and the secretary of the Bishop of Mosul, the martyr Archbishop Faraj Rahho. Father Ganni may soon be given the title ‘blessed.’

Father Ganni, considered one of the most influential martyrs of the Catholic Church in Iraq, was killed by fanatical terrorists on June 3, 2007, after celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul.

Simplicity of spirit and zeal for the faith.” These words were used to describe Father Ganni by the Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil, Bishop Bashar Warda, when he met him in 1997 in Ireland. Archbishop Warda continued: “When Father Ragheed was asked to volunteer to serve the pilgrims who came to pray and seek advice at the Shrine of Lough Derg in County Donegal, he accepted the invitation and brought happiness and joy to all of our hearts.”

Archbishop Warda stressed that the martyred Father Ragheed was very close to the youth. He always accompanied them and conducted activities that motivated them and helped them strengthen their spirituality and ecclesiastical knowledge. He added: “I have always admired his leadership and his closeness to them. He was a father, a brother, and an educator for all of them.”

The life of Father Ragheed Ganni

Father Ragheed was born in Mosul in 1972, where he completed his university studies, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He had loved the Church since childhood and learned its liturgical rites and melodies. He decided to devote his life to the Church in the sacred priesthood. . Bishop Georgios Jarmo sent him to Rome in 1996 to begin his priestly formation journey. He studied at the Irish Institute and continued his studies in theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas — Angelicum.

He had a strong desire to return to Mosul and serve the believers and members of his Church who were in tribulation due to the persecution of extremist Islamic groups since 2003. His wish was granted; he returned to Mosul and committed himself to serving its people, in addition to teaching at the Babylon College of Philosophy and Theology, in 2004.

During this period, the city of Mosul suffered from campaigns of intimidation, kidnapping, and killing of Christians, in addition to bombing many churches and monasteries. Many people were forced to seek refuge and escape to other cities and villages in northern Iraq, and many families were forced to migrate to other countries, fearing for their lives and their faith.

These challenges were not an obstacle to Father Ragheed, who continued all pastoral activities, celebrated Masses in the various churches in his diocese, and provided moral and spiritual support to his church children even in the most challenging times.

Father Ragheed constantly said: “The terrorists want to end our lives, but the Eucharist gives us life. When I hold the cup of the Eucharist in my hands, I say: This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. I feel His power overwhelm me. I hold the cup in my hand, but He is the one who holds me and us all, defying the terrorists and making us united in His boundless love.”

He emphasized more than once in his conversation with those close to him that he would continue to spread the message that obligated him to be a missionary in the name of Christ, saying: “The terrorists think that they are killing us physically or scaring us spiritually with their brutal methods. Many Christian families have fled because of the abuses committed against them, but the paradox is that we have come to realize, through the violence of terrorists, that the dead and risen Christ gives us life. This gives us hope and helps us survive every day.”

The threats directed at Father Ragheed continued because of the various activities he led with the youth in the Church. His ministry angered the terrorist groups in Mosul, and death threats began to emerge.

On the third Sunday of June 2007, the terrorists arrested him after he celebrated the Divine Liturgy with three deacons: Basman Yusef Daoud, Waheed Hanna Isho, and Ghassan Essam Bidawid. At that time, the terrorists asked him: “Did we not ask you not to open the church for prayer?” He replied, “How can I close the House of God in the face of worshipers?”

These were the last words uttered by Father Ragheed Ganni, days before he became a martyr for Christ and his Church.

Father Ragheed Ganni realized that the Islamic terrorists would not let him live, given his disobedience to their orders and his continued celebration of the liturgy in Mosul, so he wrote his last prayer on October 12, 2006:

“Lord, I don’t think they will look at my prayer

Although it was a pessimistic prayer, everyone knew me as an optimist.

And perhaps, for a moment, they forgot. They wondered why I was so optimistic,

They have seen me smiling, braver and stronger in the most difficult situations.

But, when they remember the times of trouble I lived,

and the hardships I’ve been through,

The ones that showed how weak I am and how capable you are

You revealed how fragile I am and how strong you are,

They will know that I, my hope, have always spoken of you

Because I knew you, and you were the reason for my optimism

Even when I knew my death was near,

But let me be with you now,

May I please put it before you,

You know better than I what time we are living.

I am a human being and know how weak a person is.

I want you to be my strength so that I will not allow anyone to insult me in the priesthood that I hold.

Help me not to weaken and surrender myself in fear for my life

Because I want to die for you, to live with you and with you.

Now I am ready to meet you; help me not to lose time for trial

Because I told you that I knew man, but I also said that I knew you

Oh, my strength, my power, my hope”.

Knock Novena week 2022

Knock Novena: A Journey in Hope

The programme for the National Novena with details of guest speakers who will be there for daily ceremonies throughout the 9-day Novena to Our Lady of Knock. 14^th – 22^nd August.

The theme for this year is ‘A Journey in Hope’, as we look toward the Synod and reflect on the transformative power of hope and resilience in times of adversity.

This theme of hope leads us towards thinking and reflecting more deeply on the Synod and the fundamental questions that remain at the heart of our continual discourse. We look to the future with the hope of renewal, for God’s guidance and pray that this Novena will offer pilgrims and friends the chance for thought-provoking reflection and discussion.

Engaging on the Synod

A unique feature of this year’s Novena will be the ‘Synod Tent’, where members of the public will be invited to learn more about the Synod and what it means for all of us. It will also provide an opportunity for us to listen to what you think Knock Shrine has to offer you and the Church in Ireland at this critical juncture in our history.

Daily sessions will take place in the Synod Tent at 12 noon with a facilitator present each day to provide structure and facilitate questions and group discussion. Novena Ceremonies will take place at 3pm and 8pm in the Basilica.

Sunday 14^thAugust

3pm Most Rev Tom Deenihan, Bishop of Meath
What is Christian Hope?

8pm Cormac Henry, former Youth Volunteer at Knock Shrine
What Gives me Hope Today? Monday 15^th August

3pm & 8pm Roseanna Ruane, mother of Saoírse Ruane

The Power of Prayer in Difficult Times

Tuesday 16^th August

3pm & 8pm Dr Nicola Brady, Chair of the Synodal Steering Group

The Synodal Pathway: What have we learned and what will we do?

Wednesday 17^thAugust 3pm & 8pm Fr Terence Harrington OFM Cap, St Francis of Assisi Parish in Priorswood, Dublin
How Can I Have Hope in my Brokenness?

Thursday 18^thAugust

3pm & 8pm Halyna Teslyuk, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv

A Hope that Inspires Knock Shrine will mark this day as a special day of prayer for peace in Ukraine. We are inviting people from the Ukrainian community in Ireland and host families to join us. Нок Шрайн (Церква села Нок) відзначатиме цей день як особливий день молитви за мир в Україні. Ми запрошуємо людей з української громади в Ірландії та ірландські родини, що прийняли їх до своїх осель, приєднатися до нас.

Friday 19^th August

3pm & 8pm Lauren Conroy, Student
My Faith Story

Saturday 20^th August

3pm Fr Michael McKeever, Diocesan Secretary, Diocese of Raphoe

Eucharist: a Sign of Hope                                                                                                                                      8pm Professor John Feehan, Geologist, Botanist, Author and Broadcaster
God in Everything that Lives: A Reflection on Laudato Si                                                                                                   Sunday 21^st August, the Anniversary of the Apparition                                                                                                                                  3pm Most Rev Kevin Doran, Bishop of Elphin
They will take their place at the Feast                                                                       8pm Fr Richard Gibbons, PP and Rector, Knock Shrine
Knock – the Vision of Hope                                                                                                                                              The 21^st August is Family Day at Knock Shrine, taking place from 11am-3pm in the beautiful grounds of the Shrine. See further details on the first page of newsletter.

Monday 22^nd August 3pm & 8pm Most Rev Francis Duffy, Archbishop of Tuam
The Call of the Lord

Achonry youth – Camino walk

“being little is a blessing” – Pope Francis

Pope Francis tells Kazakhstan’s small Catholic community ‘being little’ is a blessing

Some events of interest

Keash Parish Calendar 2023

North West Hospice coffee morning

Pope John Paul l beatified

Pope John Paul l and President Carter

President and “The Smiling Pope” exchanged messages during the 33-day pontificate

Benedict’s support

Beatification of Pope John Paul I

Fr Ragheed Ganni

The life of Father Ragheed Ganni

Knock Novena week 2022

Knock Novena: A Journey in Hope

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