“We are hoping that the new format will increase participation,” says Fr Neil O’Donoghue, a lecturer in systematic theology.

In a statement on Monday, the bishop-elect said, “The Church of the future is about the increased involvement of lay people; of people and priests working together.”

"People regularly make vocational inquiries to our office and we look forward with hope to the future of the diocesan priesthood in Ireland” - Fr Willie Purcell.

A “gifted communicator”, the new bishop has served as Diocesan Youth Director and Director of Vocations and has hosted a successful religious affairs programme on KFM Radio and written a regular column in the Leinster Leader.

Newly commissioned music performed to mark the carol service's golden jubilee and the 225th anniversary of the founding of St Patrick's College.

"Maynooth’s potential for encounter and exchange is unique: three partner institutions, side by side on this historic campus, perfectly situated in one of most attractive towns in this country - the possibilities for study, research, community building and dialogue are endless."

Maynooth professor Salvador Ryan questions what a healthy, well-integrated, professionally trained priesthood should look like?

Two men are beginning their studies for the priesthood this autumn and a third is embarking on the permanent diaconate.

Archbishop Eamon Martin launches the Extraordinary Month of Mission and urges dioceses, congregations and young people to support the ‘Laudato Tree’ project.

"He had huge shoes to fill, and he served communities in difficult times.”

“Eucharist is at the heart of priesthood. When Eucharist is celebrated, God walks among his people."

Bishop Larry Duffy leads celebrations in the Diocese of Clogher as Fr Kevin Connolly is ordained to the priesthood at St Macartan’s Cathedral in Monaghan.

Kilmore priest warns that the Church must never hanker for the certainties of the past but work towards creating a new expression of what it means to be Church in this time and this place.

Archbishop Martin describes 37-year-old mother of five as a “woman of deep faith” who made "a deep impression right across the country”.

“It is no longer financially sustainable or prudent for the diocese to retain a property of this size and scale, which is no longer fit for its purposes”.

National Vocations Office marks its first anniversary with a national ‘Come and See’ vocations retreat on 23 and 24 November.

Liturgy, prayer, music, sport, food and fun promised at Kandle Family Fun Day in Carlow.

The open evening on Thursday 26 April will showcase the facilities to former and future students.

Sr Teresa McKeon of the St Joseph of Cluny congregation has been honoured by the President of Sierra Leone for her “dedicated and meritorious service to the state in the field of education and the development of women”.

19 new seminarians have begun their formation for Irish dioceses, eight of whom have begun a propaedeutic year in locations in Ireland and abroad.

Deacon Declan Lohan, a former barrister, is to be ordained a priest for service in his home diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora.

The work of the Irish chaplaincy includes the celebration of the Eucharist, preparation for the sacraments, pastoral visits to Irish people in prison and in hospitals, as well as the accompaniment of those bereaved while in Paris.

Twenty-five-year-old David Vard from Athgarvan became the first person from Newbridge to be ordained for the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin in over 20 years.

The head of pastoral studies in Mary Immaculate College was speaking to the local media after the recent ‘Building Rural Communities – Lessons from the World of Sport’ conference in Thurles.

Death of former bishop of Galway who resigned in 1992 after it was revealed he had fathered a son with Annie Murphy in 1974.

The merger of the Little Flower Girls’ School and St Patrick’s College, a boys’ school, will result in the creation of a new co-educational school for 1,119 students.

Appointment is a way of saying the Diocese of Elphin believes in the future of the priesthood. “We hope that, in the coming years, we will be able to send seminarians both to the Irish College and to Maynooth” – Bishop Kevin Doran.

Applicants for post of President of the national seminary should be ordained priests, aged over 35, who are men of “good faith, learning and good judgment”.

Professor Eugene Wall (MIC) told graduates that the education they have received at St Patrick’s has prepared them to meet the challenges they will face in a world of economic and social insecurity.

One hundred years ago, on 10 October 1916, the Bishops of Ireland gave their blessing to a new venture known as the Maynooth Mission to China. It became known as the Society of St Columban on 29 June 1918.