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Week II

Our Lady’s Shrine in Knock has some 1.6 million visitors a year. When most people think of the average age of these visitors they may well be right in thinking it’s the older generation that make up this number, however hundreds of young people flock to Knock for the annual Knock Summer Youth Festival.

An audience with novelist and playwright Dermot Bolger, a reading by human rights activist Colm O’Gorman, a workshop on how to write your memoir and a debate on the burning questions of the day are just a few of the key attractions of this year’s Athlone Literary Festival which takes place from Friday September 25 to Sunday September 27. Organisers of the festival have compiled an intriguing and diverse schedule of events for the annual event, which is now becoming a fixture on the cultural calendar of the region. For those excited by the cut and thrust of debate and discussion on some of the vital questions in this turbulent time, The Big Question on Friday evening is tailor-made.

Last week’s statement by the Catholic Bishops is the strongest ever confirmation that there is absolutely no religious or ethical basis to vote against the Lisbon Treaty, according to Longford/ Westmeath Deputy Mary O’Rourke.

Week II

Thousands of people flocked to Knock Shrine on Sunday October 11 after a Dublin clairvoyant predicted that the Virgin Mary would appear. Some claimed they saw the “sun dancing” or changing colour. However ahead of tomorrow’s (Saturday) next predicted ‘apparition’, the Archbishop of Tuam Michael Neary has sought to distance the Catholic Church from the event. He said recent events at Knock Shrine, where members of the public believed the Virgin Mary appeared, are to be regretted rather than encouraged.

First let me say I was all ready to write a lovely little editorial about Mullingar Chamber turning the town into a Christmas village on Sunday, and how it all sounds really cheery and festive. Then I was going to say a bit about the floods in Athlone, and the heart-warming solidarity that seems to have embraced the town, and the county to be fair. But then, ah but then, our beloved Taoiseach came out to defend the Catholic Church this week. His actions were something so redundant, so old school, so embarrassing that even his peers across the country scratched their heads in confusion.

First let me say I was all ready to write a lovely little editorial about Mullingar Chamber turning the town into a Christmas village on Sunday, and how it all sounds really cheery and festive. Then I was going to say a bit about the floods in Athlone, and the heart-warming solidarity that seems to have embraced the town, and the county to be fair. But then, ah but then, our beloved Taoiseach came out to defend the Catholic Church this week. His actions were something so redundant, so old school, so embarrassing that even his peers across the country scratched their heads in confusion.

I was educated in a diocesan seminary during the 1980s. I was lucky to have been taught by some priests who were amongst the most dedicated and competent teaching personnel in the country. These people were above reproach of any kind and were and are a credit to their professions. Their colleagues and their superiors have failed these priests and many more like them. Their legacy has been tarnished by a systemic cover-up of crimes of such magnitude that they are the subject of scrutiny and comment all over the world.

The Kilkenny Advertiser is celebrating its third Christmas in Kilkenny this year and March 2010 will be our fourth birthday!