Year of The Priest Begins Today

YEAR OF THE PRIEST

19 June 2009 TO 19 June 2010
Worldpriest has organised four Masses to be celebrated June 19 at 3 pm local time in Sydney, Australia, Kerala, India, Knock Shrine, Ireland, New York City, USA. Celebrants will be George Cardinal Pell, Fr. Sebastian Koodappattu OCD, Archbishop Michael Neary, and Monsignor Michael Curran. respectively

Additionally, to mark the World Day of Prayer for Priests and the beginning of the Year of the Priest On Sunday 21 June, Mass will be celebrated in the RTE National TV studios by Fr. Brendan Kilcoyne; President of Saint Jarlath’s College, Tuam. Music will be provided by the Classicus Youth Chamber Choir, directed by Maire Ledwith Butler, with organist Ronan Murray.

Worldwide live broadcast will be at 11:15 am Dublin time on RTE One National Television. This will be available for viewing the following week on www.worldpriestday.com.
The Worldpriest organisation, with offices in Dublin Ireland and New York, USA have designed a new logo to celebrate the Year of The Priest, which is available free to use through www.worldpriest.com.
Worldpriest also developed a Catholic Identity Card for their wallets in the event of an emergency asking that a priest be called. It is also a reminder to pray for our priests in this Year of The Priest.

“It must be a year that is both positive and forward looking in which the Church says to her priests above all, but also to all the Faithful and to wider society by means of the mass media, that she is proud of her priests, loves them, honours them, admires them and that she recognises with gratitude their pastoral work and the witness of the their life. Truthfully priests are important not only for what they do but also for who they are.’’ —Cláudio Cardinal Hummes Prefect, Congregation for the Clergy.

"Faithfulness of Christ, faithfulness of priests" is the theme of the Year for Priests announced by Pope Benedict XVI, according to a statement from the Holy See Press Office.

Worldpriest is a not-for-profit organization which offers on-line resources to priests and promotes the World Day of Prayer for priests annually.

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Worldpriest Inc. USA: 15th Floor / 410 Park Avenue / New York, NY 10022Phone: (212) 231-8265 / Fax: (212) 751-3500 / E-mail info@worldpriest.com
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Worldpriest Europe: St.Mary's / Bloomfield Ave. / Morehampton Road / Donnybrook / Dublin 4 Ireland Tel: 00 353 1 2314600 / Fax: 00 353 1 2315202 E-mail info@worldpriest.com