Members of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference gathered last week at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, for their Summer 2025 General Meeting. The vice-president of the conference is Archbishop Farrell.

Issues discussed by bishops during the Bishops’ Summer General Meeting included:

• Gaza: “Words are not enough!” – Bishops call for solidarity at parish level
• Bishops encourage child safeguarding vigilance in parishes across Ireland
• Day for Life 2025 message: Hope does not disappoint: Finding meaning in suffering’
• Church’s pastoral role in addressing addiction and reform of the Confirmation Pledge
• Synodality – in Ireland and Universally
• TheWay.ie – new unified digital platform dedicated to sharing the Good News
• New era for Church publications
• Maynooth Union annual celebration of milestone anniversaries of ordination classes
• Road safety and in particular the A5 single carriageway in Northern Ireland

The full statement can be read at https://www.catholicbishops.ie/2025/06/11/statement-for-the-summer-2025-general-meeting-of-the-irish-bishops-conference/.

Day for Life, Sunday, June 15, is an invitation to pray for those who suffer and to remain with them like the Good Samaritan, bearing witness to their unique and unrepeatable value.

We see this closeness in the generous and fruitful service of healthcare professionals, whose mission continues even when there is no longer any prospect of physical healing. We see it in another way in families, carers and chaplains who support their brothers and sisters who are sick or frail or struggling with the many burdens of life.

As Christians, we affirm them and hold out to them the hope of Jesus Christ who does not disappoint us. To read the full bishops’ message visit https://councilforlife.ie/day-for-life-2025/.

The Irish Bishops, meeting in Maynooth on Monday, offered prayers for peace in the Holy Land, for Ukraine, Sudan and in other troubled parts of the world. In particular, bishops discussed the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, stating: “From all over Ireland, parishioners are reporting their horror and helplessness on seeing images of death and communal destruction in Gaza. Exhausted mothers can no longer nourish their young, children are dying of malnutrition, while aid lorries full of supplies are being refused entry into the territory, or are not safely arriving at their destination.

“We in Ireland must pray for a change of heart. Throughout the month of June – the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – we call on everyone to pray for an outpouring of the compassion of God on a heartless world.

“To see the relentless bombardment of civilian areas, the deliberate withholding of food from the starving, as well as the callous holding of hostages, it appears that humanity has lost its heart. In the face of these horrors, we invite everyone to turn to the heart of Jesus throughout the month of June by praying for the renewal of heart that our world so desperately needs.

We call on all Catholics to make the first Friday, June 6, a day of prayer and fasting in solidarity with our sisters and brothers who are suffering at this time in the Holy Land.

“We echo Pope Leo XIV’s recent appeal to allow into Gaza ‘the entry of dignified humanitarian aid and to put an end to the hostilities, whose heartbreaking price is paid by the children, elderly, and the sick.’”

 

More Information:  https://catholicnews.ie/irish-bishops-call-for-prayer-and-fasting-for-gaza/