High Profile Cardinal Hopeful for Irish Church

Irish Catholic
August 23, 2013

http://www.irishcatholic.ie/20130822/news/high-profile-cardinal-hopeful-for-irish-church-S36597.html

Cardinal Dolan greets parishioners outside St Mary's Church in Drogheda. Photo: Fran Caffrey / www.newsfile.ie

Irish Catholics should be hopeful for the future of the Church in Ireland, which is already beginning to show signs of renewal and growth, a high profile Irish-American Cardinal has said.

Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, told this newspaper the Irish Church “is doing great”. “You can already see the signs of renewal and growth,” he said.

Referring to recent scandals that have rocked the Church in Ireland, Cardinal Dolan said Irish Catholics “need to have courage”.

“You have been through worse before, you’ll get through it. Be not afraid, have hope,” he said.

Cardinal Dolan said one sign of hope for the future of the Church in Ireland was the recent consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at Knock with 15,000 people in attendance. He also said the depth of prayer here in Ireland was “phenomenal”.

The New York based prelate was in Ireland to inaugurate the new mission of a group of US religious sisters in Drogheda, Co. Louth.

The four Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal left their home in the Bronx earlier this month to set up a new convent in the Louth town at the request of Cardinal Dolan.

According to the cardinal, “the sisters have made a tremendous impact in the Bronx and in Harlem”. “They are women of joy, enthusiasm and prayer,” he said.

“Their presence, their prayer, their outreach to the poor children, their service to the hungry and the homeless and their catechesis have been phenomenally affective.

“I can’t tell you what an impact they make on the streets of New York. And they have already started to do it here in Drogheda,” he said.

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