This faith initiative has been undertaken by Evangelizo, a Catholic lay association founded in France in 2001 by Bertrand Couderc and Grégor Puppinck. Full permission to publish the Irish translation has been granted by An Bíobla Naofa © An Sagart, Maigh Nuad 2000, Éire.
Evangelizo seeks to make free and available online and on social media
daily Mass readings to as many people as possible, today the service has
seventeen language versions and over 500,000 subscribers.
Originally from Dundalk, Paris-based Ciarán MacGuill led this project to
host the Irish language version of Evangelizo.
Ciarán said, “I love
our Irish language and culture and have co-founded the very successful
Gaeltacht here in Paris, An Ghaeltacht-sur-Seine, which has over 200
members. We offer a whole variety of opportunities for people, mostly
Irish, but also French and others, to gather socially and speak Irish. I
suggested to Evangelizo’s co-founder, Bertrand Couderc, that Irish
could be included with their suite of international languages, and
straight away he liked the idea.”
Ciarán continued, “The French, and particularly French Catholics, have a
great fondness for Ireland and the Irish. I got to work, preparing the
texts with Evangelizo and its friends in the Monastic Community of
Jerusalem. Thanks to the wonders of internet technology, the Irish
language team is based across mainland Europe and the Mediterranean,
from Paris and the Mont Saint Michel, to Strasbourg, Rome and Beirut. The result is that today we now have ‘Soiscéal an Lae’, the Irish
language version of Mass readings of the day. This is a great aid for
studying the Bible, for following the liturgical year and
building one’s faith. Our aim is to catch up with the French, Italians
and Germans! They keep improving their versions, with commentaries,
prayers, biographies of the saints of the day and now they also have the
Mass readings in audio.”
In welcoming the success of making daily Mass readings available in the
Irish language, Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ, Bishop of Down and Connor,
said, “Go gcoimeáda an Tiarna na hÉireannaigh ina lámha agus a muintir
atá ina gcónaí thar sáile, sa Fhrainc agus ar fud an domhain. Go
gcosnaí an Tiarna iad, agus go bhfana siad gar don Tiarna [May Our Lord
hold the Irish living in France and around the world in His hands and
protect them, and may their families flourish and stay close to God].”
Bishop McGuckian continued, “Reading the Scriptures in Irish, or indeed
in any language, is an extraordinary way to discover and rediscover the
richness of the words and images of the Holy Bible. The daily
Mass readings are a particularly powerful way to follow the liturgical
year and explore the connections and associations between the books of
the Bible. It is especially gratifying for Irish language
enthusiasts to see our language take its place among seventeen major
world languages. I wish to commend Ciarán and the Irish language
community in France for this work of evangelisation. May I encourage
everyone of faith, and with a love of our language, to access Soiscéal
an Lae, the daily Mass readings on www.evangelizo.com.”