Marion Mulhall, founder of the Worldpriest global aspostolate and the Annual Global Rosary Relay for the Sanctification of Priests, will travel from Ireland to be the guest speaker on 7 October, at the national novena at the shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, Green Bay, in the northern US state of Wisconsin, on the shores of Lake Michigan.
The day will begin with a Mass at 11am for the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary at the shrine, which is the only approved apparition National Shrine to Our Lady within the United States.
At 12 noon there will be a family lunch at which Marion will speak, telling her personal story behind the founding of the Worldpriest apostolate, which is now recognised in eighty countries around the world through the Annual Rosary Relay of Priests. This prayer event, which touches the lives of millions around the world every year continues to grow, and will celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2019.
Above image L to R: Niall M.Kennedy Chairman Worldpriest, His Eminence Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon. Burma, Marion Mulhall Founder of Worldpriest, and His Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias of Bombay India at the WMOF Dublin 2018.
Worldpriest participated fully at the World Meeting of Families, which took place on 21-26 August, at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS). In a specially set up studio within the RDS the Worldpriest team –with full media accreditation – filmed a series of interviews with high profile participants at this joyful and uplifting event. These high quality videos will be placed on the Worldpriest website over coming weeks. People included in these productions are His Eminence Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay, India, Archbishop Michael Neary, who is episcopal adviser to Worldpriest and Fr Leo Patalinghug who uses his gift as a celebrity chef to carry out his ministry.
This hugely successful event in Dublin gave the Worldpriest team a perfect opportunity to meet priests from all over the world. Many were already familiar with our apostolate and there was great praise for the continued progress of the Worldpriest Global Rosary Relay for the Sanctification of Priests, which they believed was needed more than ever uniting a world in prayer. ‘A world at prayer is a world at peace’ – Venerable Patrick Peyton.
All expressed their gratitude for the work of our apostolate and commented on the quality of our website. The Rosary Thursday initiative and the Daily Priest Prayer Friend feature both drew special praise from a number of priests. There was also great interest expressed in the content, quality and creativity of our promotional material. Many made suggestions for new web content and new prayer locations were also identified through these discussions.
This extremely well planned event provided many opportunities for Catholics, especially families, to strengthen their faith. The opening mass, celebrated by Cardinal Gracias of Bombay, was also concelebrated by cardinals, bishops and priests from all over the world.
Of course the most outstanding feature of this great event was the arrival of His Holiness Pope Francis in Ireland, the first visit by a pope to Irish soil in forty years. He paid a scheduled visit to Ireland’s National Marian Shrine at Knock in County Mayo as part of his visit.
Ireland is fortunate in that she still possesses a number of ancient wooden sculptures, including several of Our Lady and a few of the Irish saints. The oldest of these figures is the twelfth century Madonna and Child from Kilcorban, Co. Galway. The figure venerated in the Carmelite church today under the title of “Our Lady of Dublin” has been compared in style to some of the early sixteenth-century sculptures in the Henry VII chapel at Westminster, and is probably of this period. It is a life size figure in oak, showing Our Lady holding her Child. Originally brightly painted, the figure had been later whitewashed over, unfortunately, the removal of the whitewash in 1914 also took off the ancient polychrome surface as well. The extended arm of the Child is a modern restoration.