Raising
The local school plays an important part in the life of any community. In fact it is one of the principal builders of community. It is through the school that local children get to know each other and form friendships…
‘Fr. Tom's Courier Column’ Notices
The Legacy of Fr. Browne
I wrote recently about the heroic efforts of the Quilty fishermen who rescued the French fishermen of the Leon off the Quilty coast in 1907. Recent maritime tragedies in both Cork and Italy have raised awareness once again about the…
Celebrating the Sacred in our Schools
Fifty years ago next week the first Catholic school opened its doors in Shannon. St. Senan’s School on Corrib Drive welcomed the first pupils on 1st February 1962. Since then, Shannon Parish has provided five Catholic primary schools and two…
God Moves in Mysterious Ways
One of the Christmas presents that I received this year was a DVD of the Centenary celebrations that took place in October last at the Star of the Sea Church, Quilty. I spent five very happy years as curate in…
Jesus is Born – Gloria in Excelsis Deo!
December 25, 2011;
Dear Parishioners, friends and visitors to our Parish website, Nollaig faoi shona dhaoibh.
Christmas 2011 has arrived. With the arctic conditions of the past two Christmases still fresh in our minds, the mild weather of recent days is a welcome break…
May Peace be your Gift this Christmas
The deadline for this edition of the Courier is getting nearer. It’s the time of year when people are constantly saying to me, “It’s your busy time, Father” as if my colleagues and I do nothing for the rest of…
Freezing your Memories
I know an 80 year old woman named Mary who was experiencing a moment of real crisis. She had lived in the same house for over 54 years and had raised her children there; her husband had died there. The…
Don’t Dismiss the Past
The oil crisis of the 1970s had a tremendous political, social, and economic impact, threatened to cripple our country and we all had to adjust accordingly. One of the effects of the crisis was a skyrocketing of energy prices, as…
Everybody Wants to go to Heaven but Nobody Wants to Die
I read an email lately which centred on a school teacher in Dublin who quizzed her class about getting to Heaven. The question was simple “What do we need to do to get to Heaven?”
The first child answered that we…
The Eucharistic Congress Bell
The 50th Eucharistic Congress will be held in Ireland in June of next year. People from all over the world will be in Dublin from 12th to 17th June. We are also invited to be part of the preparation for…
Recollections and Collections
After ordination my first appointment was as a curate in the Bogside in Derry in 1984 and I shared the first years of my priesthood in the same house with Bishop Edward Daly in St. Eugene’s Cathedral. I have always…
An Invitation from God
Since 1981 in a small village in Bosnia Herzegovina named Medjugorje, the Blessed Virgin Mary has been appearing. In her own words she tells us “I have come to tell the world that God exists”. For the past 30 years…
Living Our Lives Since 9/11
I was too young to remember the day President John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas on 23rd November 1963. As I grew up, I remember people being able to recall what they were doing or where they were on that…
The Search is On
The first edition of the Courier after the summer break has me at my desk with thoughts of young people. The Leaving Cert results are out, CAO offers are next, World Youth Day is drawing to a close and the…
Seeking Saints in Sinners
In the Gospel passage for Mass last Sunday Jesus was reminding his followers that good and evil often thrive side by side in the one place. The reality of this truth has been brought home to all of us with…
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