PREPARATIONS are well underway for the annual solemn novena in honour of Our Mother of Perpetual Help at the Redemptorist Church, Limerick. The novena, which runs from Friday June 19 to Saturday June 27, is the largest religious gathering in the Mid West, with more than five thousand people expected to attend each day.
This year’s novena, entitled Called and Sent: Living Our Baptism Today, invites participants to rediscover the profound meaning of baptism as not just a once-off ceremony, but as a lifelong calling and way of life. The theme draws on the priorities of the Irish Synod, exploring how every Catholic is called — through their baptism — to belong, to serve, and to help build a more welcoming and co-responsible Church.
“The novena this year asks each of us a simple but deeply challenging question: what does my baptism mean to me today?” says novena director Fr Brian Nolan, Rector of the Redemptorists in Limerick.
“Baptism is not just something that happened to us long ago. It is a calling — to be priest, prophet, and servant — and this novena is an opportunity to reconnect with that calling in a real and practical way.”
This year’s preachers are Fr Gerry Moloney CSsR, Helena Connolly, and Jim Deeds. Together they will explore themes including welcome and inclusion in the Church, coresponsibility among the laity, the role of women, support for families, and the importance of safeguarding.
Daily Mass times are at 7.30am, 10am, 11.30am, 6pm, 7.30pm, and 9pm. Special events throughout the novena include:
First Communion Novena Mass — Monday June 22 at 11.30am
Blessing of Families and Children — at all Masses on Sunday June 21
Blessing of the Sick and Elderly — at all Masses on Saturday June 27
Brazilian Celebration — Sunday June 21 at 4pm
Ukrainian Celebration — Saturday June 27 at 4pm
A novena counselling service will be available June 22–26 (9.30am–12.30pm and 5.30pm–8pm, Parlour 4 in the Monastery), along with Quiet Time for reflection, adoration and prayer Monday 22 to Friday 26 at 10pm. Confessions will be heard daily, with Reconciliation Services on Tuesday June 23 at 11.30am and 7.30pm.
People around the world can join every session online at novena.ie and submit their prayers of petition and thanksgiving.
The Redemptorist Church is located at Mount Saint Alphonsus, South Circular Road, Limerick, V94 F867. Tel: 061 315 099.
Everyone is welcome. Everyone is included.