Strokestown Parish

10/06/2026

During the dynamic youth prayer vigil at Barcelona's Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, Pope Leo XIV delivered a powerful message urging young people to never stop seeking and dialoguing with God through the "nights" of their lives. The Pontiff issued a stark warning against a modern society that demands constant performance, produces superficial "winners," and fosters a cult of self-image. He cautioned that these societal pressures act as an anesthetic to our inner restlessness, failing to answer deeper human longings for love, truth, and forgiveness. Ultimately, the Holy Father called on the youth to "descend inwardly" and allow the light of the Gospel to guide them past internal emptiness and defeats toward life's true value.

10/06/2026

10/06/2026

Bishop Niall Coll will be main celebrant and homilist for Mass at the Pilgrimage for Life on Saturday 20 June at 3pm in Knock Basilica. Join us in praying for life!

10/06/2026

Pope Leo recently reflected on a distinction that is becoming increasingly relevant in the age of AI: the difference between processing information and living a human life.

Knowledge can be learned, stored, and analyzed. But many of the things that shape how people understand the world—relationships, responsibility, work, friendship, love, joy, and loss—come through experience.

As artificial intelligence becomes more advanced, Pope Leo's comments raise an important question: What aspects of human understanding can only come from being human?

10/06/2026

This week we are reminded to slow down and reflect with 'Postscript'. Inspired by a road trip Seamus and Marie Heaney took with Brian and Anne Friel along the Flaggy Shore, Co. Clare, the poem invites us to pay attention to the world around us.

☁ Join us for Mindful Mondays, a mindfulness tour taking place each Monday this month at 11:30am.

➡️Learn more on the NLI website:
https://www.nli.ie/exhibitions-events/mindful-mondays-seamus-heaney-listen-now-again

The text reads:
Postscript
And some time make the time to drive out west
Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore,
In September or October, when the wind
And the light are working off each other
So that the ocean on one side is wild
With foam and glitter, and inland among stones
The surface of a slate-grey lake is lit
By the earthed lightning of a flock of swans,
Their feathers roughed and ruffling, white on white,
Their fully grown headstrong-looking heads
Tucked or cresting or busy underwater.
Useless to think you’ll park and capture it
More thoroughly. You are neither here nor there,
A hurry through which known and strange things pass
As big soft buffetings come at the car sideways
And catch the heart off guard and blow it open.

From The Spirit Level (1996

10/06/2026

Ahead of the official 250th anniversary of the United States, the U.S. Catholic bishops will consecrate the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on Thursday, June 11th.

We recently spoke with Catholic evangelist Pete Burak of Renewal Ministries for his reflections on this significant spiritual milestone for our country - and how the faithful can prepare for it: https://youtu.be/WiGYgkxtFsw