Diocese of Ossory

The Pope John Paul II Award enables participants to take an active part in the life of their Church - in the life of their community and society. It also enables young people become more aware of the teaching and role of the Catholic Church in the world and to engage at a deep level with Christ.

Recently, a book has been published with the title "When a Pope asks Forgiveness - The Mea Culpa's of John Paul II". The book is dedicated to the emphasis Pope John Paul gave during his many pastoral visits, all over the world, to the need of apology in the face of historical and contemporary injustices and abuse of all sorts. The book catalogues 95 issues that merited an apology during his many pastoral visits. In the face of social brokenness and cruel injustice and abuse, apology is always part of the mending. I do believe that the introduction of the John Paul Awards to the Diocese of Ossory by the Knights of St Columbanus will help to re-generate the sense of the Christian need to reach out to the many needs of our neighbours. A great example of this missionary initiative is the 40 to 50 young boys and girls who volunteer to travel on the Lourdes Pilgrimage to help with the care of the sick and infirm pilgrims. This experience has been a wonderful experience for young students of Transition Year. In fact, for many of the students this pilgrimage experience has been one of the highlights of their time in Secondary School. They experience an essential aspect of being a Christian, namely, laying down some time of one’s life for the care of the neighbour.