Invitation from Bishop Denis – The World Meeting of Families 2018: I know we have been talking a lot over the past few years as we prepare for an event that is now simply days away – the World Meeting of Families 2018. I thank you for all you have done in every parish to prepare for these enriching days celebrating family life. The days are all the more enriched because Pope Francis will walk amongst us and accompany us on the last two days of the World Meeting. We were probably first out of the traps with the idea of a ‘Family Picnic Day’. Maybe you made it to Punchestown at the end of last summer or perhaps to Carlow College, St. Patrick’s in June past. Perhap’s you engaged with the preparatory programme Amoris: ‘Let’s Talk Family, Let’s Be Family’. Maybe you had a special prayer space in your church, your home, your room to pray for your famly and all families. Your generosity at parish level supporting the differently collections is deeply appreciated. No family is perfect and the World Meeting will speak to all families. I want to personally invite you to the Opening Liturgy of the World Meeting of Families in the Cathedral Carlow on Tuesday 21 August at 7.30pm. We will have refreshments beforehand on the grounds of Carlow College, St. Patrick’s commencing at 6pm. Our Diocesan Choir have put in enormous preparation into this celebration of Evening Prayer. Julie Kavanagh, our Diocesan Delegate for the World Meeting of Families has played a huge part in the planning not only of our liturgy but on the entire liturgy programme for the World Meeting. The theme for our Tuesday nights Evening Prayer is ‘The Joy of Families is also the Joy of the Church – Le Chéile le Chríost’. Every parish are welcome to gather with us for our Diocesan Evening Prayer. Our guest homilist is Cardinal Peter Turkson, who visits the Diocese to applaud the great strides done in many parishes reaching out to the most vulnerable and wounded families. Cardinal Turkson is currently prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development. Let us gather together as a diocese to celebrate family life on Tuesday 21 August at 7.30pm at the Cathedral in Carlow.