The Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin Petition Box for the World Meeting of Families has been in our Parish now for a few days. It is following Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and has been at Masses in Derrinturn and Kilshanroe. All Petitions will be brought to the Phoenix Park for mass with Pope Francis. Don’t forget to pray for him this week too and for Bishop Diarmuid Martin and the team who are preparing to welcome all those visiting from abroad for the World Meeting of Families. The  Box will be available in Kilshanroe Church at 7.30 p.m. Mass this weekend and it will return to Derrinturn Church for 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. Masses on Sunday. There will be a family rosary on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.  The Rosary Priest, Fr. Patrick Peyton, spent his life promoting the Family Rosary. “The Family that Prays Together Stays Together” and “A World at Prayer is a World at Peace” were great sayings of his. The Rosary is a great prayer. It helped to keep the Faith alive during Penal Times when it was difficult to have Mass in Ireland. Many families have a tradition of saying it together everyday. The Visionaries at Knock on 21st August 1879 prayed it for hours in pouring rain during the Apparition. The World Meeting of Families will begin on the Anniversary of the Apparition, 21st August 2018. The Petition Box will be present at Masses in Derrinturn on Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th May. It will visit Ticknevin School after Mass on Monday for a time and then return to Adoration in Derrinturn Church for the rest of the day. The Petition Box returns to Carlow on Tuesday afternoon.