Augustinian Friary Dungarvan

Augustinian Friary Dungarvan A Roman Catholic Church administered by the Irish Province of the Order of Saint Augustine (Augustinians).

06/06/2026

JUNE 7th
Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day is a science fiction film about aliens, focusing on a government conspiracy involving extraterrestrial life and a whistleblower who reveals their true existence to the world. It’s an interesting concept. What if it were true? Are there aliens among us already? And how would you feel if there were? Our Church has no official teaching on extraterrestrial life. Nevertheless, the Church teaches that we do have a non-human intelligent creature already among us in which we all believe and consider them friendly – our Guardian Angels. (Let’s not think of the unfriendly evil spirits)
Apart from the angels then, if extraterrestrials do exist, remember that they also were equally created by a good God, may never have experienced ‘original sin’ and could indeed be in a very happy relationship with God. Furthermore, most scientists believe that if there are inhabited other worlds, they are so many impossible light years away, that we are beyond their reach, presently anyhow. But who knows? Even if they did exist, they would have no bearing on our core Christian values, doctrines and faith, except perhaps to deepen it.
Fr. Séamus o.s.a.

Tomorrow, Friday 5th June
04/06/2026

Tomorrow, Friday 5th June

01/06/2026

We pray for all students who are commencing their exams this coming Wednesday, that the Father protect them, the Spirit inspire them and the Son lead them to the success their hard work deserves.

30/05/2026

MAY 31st
Did you ever wonder why solitary confinement in prisons is a particularly harsh punishment? Medical research shows that the denial of meaningful human contact can cause ‘isolation syndrome’ Prolonged isolation can destroy a person’s personality and their mental health and its effects may last long after the end of the period of segregation.
As humans our survival depends on us being social. We are instinctively predisposed to maintain proximity to other humans and to avoid isolation. Our survival depends on reciprocal relationships. We forge bonds that provide mutual aid, and social bonds keep us safe. (The shared coffee break and evening meal together is very human and healthy!)
Pope Leo’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, is subtitled “On Safeguarding the Human Person in the time of Artificial Intelligence.” AI is not a human person.
In the context of the encyclical, "the Trinity" (today’s Feast) refers to the core Christian belief in one God as three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The encyclical emphasizes this divine Trinity as the ultimate model of communion and the lens through which human identity must be viewed in the technological age.
We are made, not in the image of artificial intelligence, but in the image of three Divine Persons living one nature in perfect harmony, peace and love. When humankind does not live that model of communion in their daily lives, we witness humanity and civilisation falling apart in wars, violence and greed.
Our deepest vocation, our true fulfilment, is to enter into the Trinitarian dynamic of love. Fr. Séamus o.s.a.

23/05/2026

MAY 24th
In the next two weeks Christians will be celebrating two feasts centred on the essence of God, - the Holy Spirit and the Holy Trinity. The idea of a single divine being - God, Yahweh, Allah – has existed for over 4,000 years. The Hebrew name for God is “Yahweh”, meaning “I Am who I Am”. Jews no longer pronounce the holy name, which is written YHWH and translated “Lord” in English. God’s unusual name suggests that “God is who God is and that’s it.” God can neither be named nor defined. (So, forget the long haired grey bearded old man sitting on a throne!) Anything said about God falls infinitely short of the reality. Saint Augustine put it well, saying, “We know God more by what God is not than by what God is.” E.g. The expression “God is infinite” simply means God is not finite as humans are. The expression “God is all-knowing” simply means God is not limited in knowledge as humans are. It is never more true - there is more to God than we might think. And our limited language cannot exhaust the mystery.
Our way of praying and the way in which we see human relationships and the world itself will be a direct consequence of our ‘God image.’ More later…

Fr. Séamus o.s.a

Feast Day of St Rita this Friday, 22nd May. Mass will be celebrated at 10am. Blessed rose petals will be available to th...
20/05/2026

Feast Day of St Rita this Friday, 22nd May.
Mass will be celebrated at 10am. Blessed rose petals will be available to the congregation after Mass.

It is said that as she neared the end of her life, Rita was bedridden from tuberculosis. It was then that she asked a cousin who had come to visit for a rose from the garden in her old home. As it was January, her cousin did not expect to find any roses, but there was a single rose in bloom, which was brought back to Rita at the convent.

15/05/2026

MAY 17th
I was sceptical about seeing a medium – then she told me family secrets that reduced me to tears and convinced me….there IS an afterlife. (Newspaper headline). Big deal, as the man in the TV ad said. She is a little behind the times. Since the God-Man Jesus was raised from the dead, for the past 2,000 years Christians have always believed that we bear the seed of eternity within ourselves.
We’ve even had apparitions from the ‘other side’ to support our belief e.g. Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje and elsewhere where a beautiful Lady reminded us that there is more beyond the mystery of death where life is changed not ended and where the soul finds its own perfect personality in God.
And we also have science on our side. Wernher von Braun, the leading rocket scientist, the architect of the American space program, and a pivotal figure in aerospace engineering and a committed Christian, believed in the immortality of the soul. In an essay, he stated, "everything science has taught me—and continues to teach me—strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death." What seems to be the end of our human existence is in fact the beginning of eternal life.
The medium showed our sceptic about life after death as she saw it, telling her that her brother even in death is still a recluse, and that her “animals are on a hill, waiting for me.”
Surely a pitiful vision for eternity! The Christian heaven has infinitely more to offer.
Fr. Séamus o.s.a.

10/05/2026

MAY 10th
Most of us have had the experience of walking into a room and trying to figure out why I came into the room: What did I come in here for? What is the reason for my being here? A much deeper question is: “What is the reason for my own Being? Why am I here at all? Why is there a Me? To use the title words of Linda Martin’s song,: “Why Me?” The scientific theory of evolution answers the question of how we were created, but how do we answer the question of why we were created? And on a personal note, each one of us could ask: “Why Me especially”
One of the deepest things being lost today is the sense of wonder before the mystery of existence and reality as a whole. To lose wonder before the mystery of existence and reality, is, in turn, to lose what it means to be human in the first place. The amazing advances in science and cosmology over the past century raise fundamental questions about our existence. Why are we here and is there a purpose to life? Is there a reason for my being here, a reason for my existence? According to Pope Benedict, a deep thinker, the cosmos has been brought into existence for one thing only: Worship. More precisely we have been called into being so that we might ultimately share in God’s life of joy, happiness and love forever.
God is our reason for Being. Our raison d’etre Fr. Séamus o.s.a.

02/05/2026

MAY 3rd
The sad story of Wendy Duffy who grieved over the death of her son goes to the heart of all of us. What she said as she departed to the Swiss clinic to avail of their ‘assisted dying’ service got me thinking. She said, “My life, my choice.” And I wondered after what I’ve being saying in the past few weeks about a fine-tuned universe tailor made for our existence and the ultimate gift of life which could only come from God, and I asked “is it really ‘my life, my choice’? do I not have an obligation to preserve my life as best I can; do I really have the choice to end it prematurely? I’m not judging Wendy; no one knows what goes on in a person’s heart and mind in the face of deep grieving. Serious psychological disturbances and suffering can diminish one’s responsibility. That can only be known by God alone. All we know is that it is very painful. However, God is the master of life and life is a precious gift given to us by God. God said, ‘let us make man in our own image…. God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them (Genesis 1:26-27) We are not owners; we are stewards of that life. Out of respect due to our Creator God of life, it is not ours to dispose of as we will. Jesus tells us: I have come that you may have life and have it to the full. It is improper and not within our remit to say, “No thanks”.
Nevertheless ….we have the terrible freedom to choose. Fr. Séamus o.s.a

This Friday, 1st May
29/04/2026

This Friday, 1st May

Address

Saint Augustine Street
Dungarvan

Telephone

058 41136

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