Raphoe Diocese

07/09/2026

Tomorrow Bishop Niall will be celebrating the annual Mass for Expectant Families at 7pm in the Cathedral. All welcome!

06/09/2026

Just one of many examples of the musical talent shared today in Gortahork at the celebrations for the renaming of the national school after St Carlo Acutis!

06/09/2026

"St Patrick dreamed that the Irish were calling to him: we beg you holy youth to come walk among us again. Within twenty years he brought the faith to all of Ireland. The voice of Gortahork has been heard and today a fifteen year old boy comes to walk among you."

Monsignor Anthony Figueiredo drew a comparison between St Patrick and St Carlo Acutis today as Scoil Náisiúnta Gort an Choirce was renamed for the first millenial saint. He came from Assisi with St Carlo's relics for the celebrations and encouraged the community:

"St Carlo Acutis is the first millenial saint: a genius with a computer, the first saint with an email address, a normal boy who loved Nutella.

We bring the relics because he is no different to you. Yet he comes to inspire you in three ways:

1. "All of us are born originals yet we want to be photocopies." Carlo made a decision to follow Jesus at the age of seven and brought his parents back to Mass. You can be originals in a world where God is cancelled.

2. Carlo had a vision for his life- to always follow Jesus. He did this through going to Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Confession, loving the Blessed Mother and the saints, and by doing small acts of charity.

3. To love what awaits tomorrow, give the best of yourselves today. Don't hide your gifts and talents. Use them to bring others to Jesus.

Find God and you'll find the meaning of your life."

06/09/2026

School principal Patricia Uí hArlaigh of Scoil Náisiúnta, Gortahork in Co. Donegal explains the ten year journey that lead up to the renaming of their school after St Carlo Acutis on September 6th 2026.

06/09/2026

"Many young people today are struggling with life. They are discovering the hard way that they need meaning and purpose. Carlo discovered that he needed God in his life, and found Him. That made all the difference."

Bishop Niall Coll encouraged the parish and school community in Gortahork to see St Carlo Acutis as a guide and inspiration today as Scoil Náisiúnta Gort an Choirce was renamed for St Carlo - the first school in Ireland to take him as their special patron.

The millenial saint, born in 1991, would be thirty-five today if he had lived. He died of leukaemia in 2006 at the age of fifteen and was declared a saint of the Church by Pope Leo XIV on September 7th, 2025.

The community came together for Mass to celebrate the renaming of the school and even had the chance to venerate the relics of St Carlo. Monsignor Anthony Figueiredo brought several relics from Assisi where Carlo is buried, including a piece of the pericardium surrounding Carlo's heart.

Bishop Niall finished by reminding the community:

"This area has been Christian for 1500 years - 50 generations. In some ways there has been a stumble in Ireland in the last two or three generations in the transmission of the faith. But that doesn't mean that the power and attraction of the Gospel have lost any of their strength.

Don't let anyone convince you that God doesn't matter. When you send your children and grandchildren to school at Scoil Naomh Carlo Acutis, remember that they have a patron for the modern generation."

06/09/2026

A year after St Carlo Acutis was made the first millenial saint, Gortahork National School is renamed Scoil Naomh Carlo Acutis, the first school in Ireland to do so!

02/09/2026

The installation of Bishop Niall on 25th January is now available on YouTube!

On 25th January 2026, Bishop Niall Coll was installed as Bishop of ...

01/09/2026

Today marks the beginning of the Season of Creation (1st September - 4th October). The theme is “Living Water” which comes from the Old Testament, the Prophet Ezekiel (47:9+12).

Ezekiel points us forward to the New Testament, for example to the moment when Jesus meets the Woman at the Well. He asks her for a drink, and says that to those who ask he will give water “welling up to eternal life” (John 4: 15).

This is a strange thing to say - he’s the one who is thirsty and yet he’s got water that brings eternal life?

By "living water" Jesus means the gift of the Holy Spirit, who comes to live in the hearts of believers at their Baptism (John 7:37-39).

But what has that got to do with creation?

Pope Leo, in his Message for the 11th Day of prayer for the Care for Creation, gives us the answer.

He says that if we allow the “living water” of the Holy Spirit to bring conversion to our hearts, we learn to see things as God sees them. We then care for creation out of gratitude for the home God has given us.

Pope Leo also says that when we see things like Jesus, who came to give us “life in abundance,” we begin to cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s mission and become builders of peace in our homes, communities and throughout the Church and the world:

“Where hearts are renewed, new possibilities begin to open. What has been used for destruction can be redirected toward life, toward the care of the poor, the nourishment of the hungry, and the safeguarding of creation.

This is the path of authentic ecological conversion, where the effects of our encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in our relationship with the world around us (cf. Francis, Laudato Si’, 217). Peace, then, begins in the heart and flows outward to our relationships, communities and the broader world.”

Let’s pray this month that we may “contemplate the gift of life and cherish the earth that sustains it, for they are tangible ways of offering praise to our Creator.”

Read the Pope’s Message here: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/messages/creation/documents/20260815-messaggio-giornata-curacreato.html

Access other resources for the Season of Creation here: https://www.catholicbishops.ie/laudato-si/season-of-creation-2026/

And find out how to pray and celebrate the Season of Creation along with Christian communities all over the world here:
https://seasonofcreation.org/resources/

31/08/2026

All smiles in Ardaghey recently with the visit of Bishop Niall Coll.

📷 Thanks to Bred Ward for the photos!

31/08/2026

Our Healing Service will be held on Sunday, September 6th at 3.00pm
Rosary at 2.45pm and Confessions before and after the Service.
All welcome.
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