This Sunday, July 26, is the Sixth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. Grandparents and the Elderly are the backbone of every parish. They are people deeply committed to their faith and to the mission of the Church. At this link can be found resources from the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference’s Council for Marriage and the Family, including:
The Council for Marriage and the Family is encouraging as many parishes as possible to celebrate World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly this year. This can be done very simply by having an older person lead us in God’s Word, using the Prayer of the Faithful from the Dicastery resources, having grandparents involved in the Offertory Procession and using the Prayer for the 6th World Day as a Post Communion Reflection.
The Glasnevin Grouping of Parishes will have their pilgrimage to Lourdes on 17th-21st August, accompanied by Fr. Kieran Dunne. The cost is €795 pps, staying in the 4* Hotel Eliseo. Please contact Marian Pilgrimages on 8788159 for more details.
Dublin Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes
September 3rd/8th, led by Archbishop Farrell
Details are available from the Diocesan Lourdes Pilgrimage Office.
Tel: 01-8087555, Email: info@lourdes.dublindiocese.ie
Website: https://www.dublindiocese.ie/lourdes/
August 2026
You are invited to the Margaret Aylward Centre to embrace the sense of tranquility and magnificent views of nature to pray, sit, read, reflect.
When: Every Monday and Wednesday in August from 11.00am to 4.00pm
Where: The Centre is open to you: upstairs in silence, find a quiet spot downstairs, sit or walk outside in the St Brigid’s Diversity Garden.
Join: There will be a 30 minute guided reflection/mediation in the morning and again in the afternoon, at noon and at 2.00. You are welcome to join or not.
Refreshments: Water, tea, coffee, provided. Feel free to bring a packed lunch.
Youth 2000 Summer Festival | 13th–16th August
Calling all young people aged 16–35! Join us at the Youth 2000 Summer Festival in Newbridge College, Co. Kildare. This is a donation-only event, with free buses available across the country and all meals included.
Expect inspiring talks and workshops, Mass, music, prayer, and plenty of opportunities to chill out and meet other young Catholics.
Whether you are new to the faith or looking to be refreshed, all are welcome.
To register or find out more, visit youth2000.ie or follow@Youth2000Ireland.
This course is for any adult who wants to explore and grow their faith. Over a year, participants are offered inputs on foundational issues of faith and the impact they have on ministry and parish life. There is also time for small group sharing and the opportunity for three different retreat experiences. On completion of the course, people are presented with a certificate.
Pathways is run on a Thursday evening (during term times) at the St Patrick’s campus of DCU in Drumcondra from 7.15pm to 9.15pm. The course starts on September 24 and runs until May 13, and costs €300. Online registration is now open using the QR code or via this link.
For further details, please visit the adult faith section of www.dublindiocese.ie/
The Summer Dues initiative for the support of priests launched on the weekend of 13th/14th June.
A letter to you from Archbishop Farrell about this initiative and its importance can be read by clicking this link.
Available here is a page ‘For parishioners’, with the Archbishop’s message and a note on the tax refund scheme. A poster can be accessed here. These you might make available over the course of the summer on your website, on noticeboards, at the back of the church and in the parish newsletter. Your print provider could be asked to produce some posters if you do not have the facility locally.
An envelope template, available here, includes space for the name, address, phone number and email address of the contributor, in order to record the contribution. It also provides the possibility of giving an envelope number in those parishes where this is helpful.
Enquiries about the Summer Dues collection can be directed to Funding Development Officer Patricia Clifford at patricia.clifford@
Support and training is available for parishes from the Finance Secretariat and the Office for Financial Development on the tax on donations scheme.
The Peter’s Pence collection will take place this weekend, 27/28 June, the Sunday before the liturgical feast of Saints Peter and Paul. This special collection replaces the second collection at Mass, the Share Fund collection.
The Peter’s Pence collection supports the Holy Father Pope Leo XIV in his mission of service to the universal Church. Donations to Peter’s Pence are a gesture of communion with the Holy Father and of solidarity with his mission to bring the Gospel to the world.
To support this initiative, the Holy See has prepared a short video. It can be viewed here. The Holy See’s poster can be used in your church, parish centre, noticeboard, website and social media platforms to promote the special collection. The poster can be found here. Other materials illustrating the collection’s significance can be found on the Holy See’s website.
How does your parish lodge this special collection?
This special collection should be lodged using the giro slip in the Share Fund Giro lodgement book that is labelled Peter’s Pence Collection and is dated 28/06/2026. The last three digits of the six-digit giro number in all parishes is XXX 826. You will find this giro slip in date sequence in the Giro lodgement book. The Finance Secretariat will then transfer the income donated from your parishioners to the Peter’s Pence bank account which will then be transferred on to the Holy See.
Please note that the Tap & Go donations received on the weekend of 27/28 June will be allocated to the special collection as follows:
• Peter’s Pence will receive the 40% that would ordinarily be transferred to the Share collection,
• and it will receive any uplift in the Common Fund portion (60%) of the Tap & Go donations received that weekend.
