The OLA Blog
Stories, reflections, and updates from our mission and community life. Here we share reflections, insights and experiences, believing that the simple act of sharing can inspire, connect, and open hearts.
Our 150th Jubilee Celebration at Ardfoyle
Irish Province Celebration – 1876–2026 On 1 May, we gathered at Ardfoyle to celebrate the congregation's 150th Jubilee with Mass and lunch shared among our Sisters, SMA brothers, families, friends, and supporters. One hundred and fifty years since Fr Augustine Planque...
Approaching Our150th Jubilee
This Friday 1 May, our Foundation Day, we will gather at Ardfoyle with family, friends, and Sisters from near and far, to celebrate one hundred and fifty years of OLA mission. The significance of this occasion lies in the distance travelled, the years counted,...
The OLA in Dromantine’s 100-Year History
Last weekend, members of our leadership team attended Mass at Dromantine to mark 100 years of the SMA's presence there. The OLA connection to Dromantine goes back almost as far. In late 1926, four OLA sisters were sent to Newry to undertake domestic work at the SMA...
A Shared History, Told at Home
Last Saturday, Ardfoyle became a place of return. A return to history, and a shared story, as part of our 150th Jubilee celebrations. We were delighted to welcome our Archivist, Lochlann Unger, who led a rich and engaging presentation tracing the intertwined...
A Small Corner of a Widening War
The war in the Middle East has widened. Iran is now part of it, and the region that was already exhausted has lurched further into uncertainty. Sr Paoula Mourad is from Lebanon. She has been in Ireland for several months now, working on the OLA Justice Desk, and she...
Three Trees in Abuja
When Sr Kathleen McGarvey OLA stood in the grounds of Ireland's new Embassy building in Abuja on 19 March this year, she was there as a guest of the Embassy – but the connection she represented is older than any building. The congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of...
Standing at the Threshold
Scripture: Luke 19:37–40 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.” The final days of Lent bring us to a crowded road. Palm branches are raised. Cloaks are spread across the ground. The air carries expectation. Yet within days, the voices will shift....
How We Choose to See One Another
History is not only about the past. It also shapes the way we see one another today. A ship sets sail from the African coast. Below deck, hundreds of men, women and children are chained together in darkness, pressed side by side on wooden planks. They cannot stand....
Ordering the Heart
Scripture: John 12:24 "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." By the fifth week of Lent, something has been happening; slowly, beneath the surface of daily life. Listening has...
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