During our Year of Prayer, Listening and Discernment, people shared a desire for a deeper and more united experience of worship during the Sunday Eucharist.

In responding to this desire, we’re introducing the use of common postures at Mass, as outlined in the Missal, starting on the First Sunday of Advent. It is hoped that this will help make people feel even more welcome and at home in whatever church in our diocese that they attend the celebration of the Eucharist.

We have designed a poster and pew card outlining these postures with a brief explanation of why we stand, kneel and sit at Mass. These simple aids are meant to help our communities worship as one body, united in prayer before the Lord.

Pdf of poster    Pdf of pew cards

Bishop of Cork and Ross invites people to respond to Church changes with a time of prayer, listening and discernment

On a weekend when heavy rain and winds had blown across his diocese, it seems more than coincidence that a new pastoral message from the Bishop of Cork and Ross should begin with a scripture quote: “Even the wind and the seas obey Him”.

Bishop Fintan Gavin read his message on Sunday to pilgrims attending the annual Mass at St. Finbarr’s Oratory, Gougane Barra.

Bishop Fintan’s message is a call to the people of the diocese to commit to a year-long time of prayer, listening and discernment about the future of the Catholic Church in the parishes and chaplaincies of the diocese.

In a time of unprecedented change in society and the Catholic Church in Ireland, people are understandably concerned about their parish’s future, he said.