‘We can be pilgrims of hope,’ urges local novena director

PREPARATIONS are well advanced at the Redemptorist Church in Limerick for this year’s solemn novena in honour of Our Mother of Perpetual Help — the largest annual religious gathering in the Mid-West.

Taking place from June 13 to June 21, the novena is expected to draw over 5,000 people each day in a shared act of prayer, reflection, and community.

This year’s novena focuses on the theme chosen by the late Pope Francis for this Holy Year 2025: ‘To be Pilgrims of Hope.”
“We are all aware of the increased fear and uncertainty that exists in the world at the present time,” said novena director, Fr Brian Nolan, C.Ss.R. “There’s so much anxiety about, with military and economic wars, political polarisation, a world at its most fraught in decades. Hope seems in short supply.”

Pope Francis knew this, added Fr Nolan, and was anxious to address it. “The Holy Father wanted us to discover hope in the signs of the times, in what is going on around us,” stated Fr Nolan.

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“We must recognise the immense goodness present in our world, so that we don’t find ourselves overwhelmed by fear and darkness. During the novena, we will look at how we can be pilgrims of hope.”

According to Fr Nolan, prayers of petition and thanksgiving are at the heart of the novena. “A novena session is never just a collection of individual people at prayer,” he expressed.

“It is a community at prayer, the Church in prayer. During the novena we are praying not just for ourselves, but for the local community and the wider world. Everyone is welcome and everyone is included. Pope Francis said that hopeful people shine a light, and that’s what we will do together during these nine days,” concluded Fr Nolan.

Confession and a free walk-in counselling service will be available as well as the traditional novena highlights - the blessing of babies and children at every session on Sunday, June 15, and a celebration for First Communion classes on Monday, June 16, at 11.30am.

A new feature this year is a quiet time from 2pm to 3pm each day from Monday to Friday, June 16 to June 20. During this peaceful hour, there will be Adoration with benediction, guided meditation, and some reflections. It offers an opportunity to step back from the regular rush of the everyday to spend time with the Lord. There will also be special sessions in their own language for the Ukrainian and Brazilian communities.

The novena starts on June 13 and continues until June 21, with six sessions daily from 7.30am to 9pm. People can also join online from anywhere in the world through the website www.novena.ie, and submit their prayers of petition and thanksgiving.

The Redemptorists first came to Limerick in 1851 to preach a mission in St John’s Cathedral. Two years later they established a temporary presence in Bank Place and moved to the present site – which they named Mount St Alphonsus – in 1854. They are known locally as ‘The Fathers.’

The church was dedicated on December 7, 1862. St Clement’s College, a secondary school for boys, was established in 1884. Redemptorists are passionate about the Gospel and equally passionate about sharing the Gospel message of God’s love for all people with all sectors of society, but especially with those who live on the edges of church and society.