A new format for the annual Galway Novena has been announced this week. Recognising that COVID 19 can still cause very real harm, the upcoming Novena will be celebrated ‘online’ and participants will have two opportunities each day to log-on to a live liturgy of prayer, worship, music, preaching and blessing directly from Galway Cathedral.
In recent comments, Cathedral Parish Priest, Monsignor Peter Rabbitte has invited people of all ages and backgrounds across the city and beyond to put some time aside during the Novena to focus on the meaning of their lives, the order of their priorities and their relationship with God, family and community.
According to Monsignor Rabbitte, “We see in the Gospel that Jesus constantly seeks out time and space to contemplate His relationship with the Father and to speak and listen to Him in prayer.
Great Festival of Faith
“Even though this year our Novena will gather people online rather than in great crowds, this great Festival of Faith will give each of us the opportunity to do as Christ did – to find solace, comfort, hope, understanding and love from a loving Father,” he said.
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The new format Novena will begin on February 21 and will run for nine days until March 1. With the theme “St. Joseph, a man for all seasons”, online Novena liturgies from the Cathedral, led by the Redemptorist Fathers, will be streamed at 9.30am and 7.30pm.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available ‘in-person’ each weekday afternoon from 3pm to 5pm. There will also be facilities on the Novena website to submit petitions and thanksgivings and arrange to have a candle lit on your behalf before the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The traditional Novena Mass cards are now available from the Cathedral Book and Gift Shop.
New beginnings
In welcoming the details of the 2022 Novena, newly ordained Fr. John Gerard Acton, who now ministers in Galway Cathedral, said “the Church was founded on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and is always striving to make new beginnings, to bring new life and new hope to the world and to find new ways of bringing the reality and message of the Gospel to new people.
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“COVID 19 has prevented us doing many things over the past two years but we have learned to adapt to changing circumstances," he said. "The new format of the Novena this year is somewhat of an experiment but, please God, it will be a catalyst for renewal and joy for each of us, after a long and difficult winter.
The 2022 Galway Cathedral Novena can be accessed online from February 21 at www.galwaycathedral.ie/novena
