Archbishop Neary pays tribute to young people’s “very significant contribution” to the local church, from teaching computers to the elderly to caring for people with special needs on pilgrimage to Lourdes.

Archbishop Michael Neary described the artwork and said: “It is difficult to find a language which would capture the beauty and magnificence of what we behold and yet isn’t it just a shadow of the reality which those 15 people looked upon on that August evening at the gable end a few yards away.”

Special focus on the family in preparation for World Meeting of Families 2018 as pilgrims invited to wear a special sticker as a symbol of bringing families with them in prayer as they made their ascent to the summit.

Ordained ministers have a responsibility to “help people to lift their gaze beyond the pessimism of those who speak today of ‘new dark ages’ and enable them to discern a distant horizon of hope”.

It is “very important that we pray for the success of the World Meeting of Families – not as an event but as a moment of renewal of love especially within families” – Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.

It is hoped that this will offer people the opportunity to engage with the new direction Pope Francis is taking and renewed hope for the life of the Church in Ireland – Fr Richard Gibbons, PP and Rector of Knock Shrine.

“I can only begin to imagine the huge emotional wrench which the mothers suffered in giving up their babies for adoption or by witnessing their death,” says Archbishop of Tuam.

Preparation programmes for Confirmation and First Eucharist demonstrate the growing involvement of the wider parish community in sacramental preparation.

Church is endeavouring “to respond positively and constructively to genuine voices calling for a greater recognition of women and the feminine in the Church”.

"We literally follow the paths traced by our ancestors, women and men of faith, who kept that faith despite the opposition they faced, despite poverty and discrimination and emigration and famine."

Fr Fintan Monahan is currently diocesan secretary in the archdiocese of Tuam and a member of the Communications Council of the Irish Episcopal Conference.

Thousands of devotees in Knock told, “Wherever he went, crowds flocked to him. Hardened criminals and heretics alike were converted by him.”

Archbishop of Tuam stresses that Corpus Christi procession ought to be a reminder that Jesus Christ can never be confined to a tabernacle or a Church building.

Relics of the 'Saint of Lost Things' will visit eight locations in Ireland between 9 and 17 June before travelling on to Britain.

It is "very difficult to see how any Catholic could, in good conscience, vote for a candidate or a political party whose policy it is to legalise abortion" - Bishop Doran.

Hierarchy focus on five key election issues: housing crisis, education, crime, healthcare, right to life and refugee crisis.

Sr Catherine Holum, who represented the US in the Winter Olympics of 1998, gave a talk at a Mass in Tuam to mark the closure of the Year for Consecrated Life.

"By destabilising marriage we are rapidly eroding the social structure on which humanity depends" warns Dr Michael Neary of Tuam.

“We have Catholic schools because parents want them. It is parents who must insist that the religious ethos of our schools is respected and not abandoned.”

"Our celebration is tinged with a certain sadness because we say farewell to the Sisters who were at the very heartbeat of this community over these years".

Marking the 10th anniversary of the World Priest apostolate, Archbishop describes it as an affirmation of the men who commit their lives to the Lord.

Thousands of pilgrims expected to attend two-day celebration of faith in Knock which will also be attended by the Primate of All Ireland and the Papal Nuncio.

Speaking as the son of a Knock Shrine steward and handmaid, Archbishop Neary said he was “very conscious of the dedication which they bring to their work”.

“I can only hope you understand how much I love Ireland – love all of you – and thank you for this privilege of opening the novena at a shrine so dear to my heart.”

Archbishop Neary expresses his disappointment. "I'm not aware that it has ever been cancelled before and I have been climbing this mountain since I was a young lad many, many years ago."

Up to 30,000 Expected to Climb Croagh Patrick for Reek Sunday.

Delegation from St Francis University trace the footsteps of six friars who left Connemara in 1847 and established one of the most prestigious universities in the US.

New projects are to be rolled out in Tuam over the next 12 to 18 months for young people aged 12 -35 years old.

“A society that identifies the two parties in marriage as spouse I and spouse II has lost sight of a deep truth of human nature" - Archbishop Neary.

Persecution is intensifying, Archbishop Neary warns, with ancient Christian communities driven from their lands through ethnic cleaning.