Limerick's Redemptorist Novena to go ahead 'online'

The annual Redemptorist Novena, in honour of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, will be very different this year. Instead of a packed Mount St Alphonsus church during the nine-day festival of faith, the novena will be celebrated on the internet via the Redemptorist website, novena.ie.

Instead of the traditional ten sessions per day, there will be four sessions daily - at 8.00am, 10.00am, 7.15pm and 9.00pm.

There will no longer be a queue for the car park and no large festive crowds, but people will be able to join from the comfort of their own homes from any part of the world.

The prayers, the preaching, the singing will be the same as always of course, with only the circumstances having changed.

The novena starts on June 19 and continues until June 27. The theme is ‘Hope in a time of crisis.’  According to the launch press release today "The novena each day will focus on the challenges posed by the global health emergency and the lessons we can learn from it, as we place our trust in Christ’s healing power through the intercession of our Mother of Perpetual Help"

The Redemptorist Church will be open each day during the novena from 12 noon to 6pm for personal prayer and to allow
people venerate the "Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help"