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PRIESTS, NUNS, AND the faithful from around the world descended upon the RDS in less than divine weather conditions this morning.
The pope’s visit may be the main event this weekend but this, essentially, is the event he’s coming to address – the World Meeting of Families.
Held every three years, it’s one of the Catholic Church’s big set-piece international events. The official description says it’s about bringing families from around the world together “to celebrate, pray and reflect upon the central importance of marriage and the family as the cornerstone of our lives, of society and of the Church”.
There was a queue to get in the door as TheJournal.ie arrived in time for the first panel discussions this morning.
In the main exhibition hall, merchants selling everything from church organs and ecclesiastical garments to garden furniture competed for the attentions of attendees next to stalls run by various religious orders, retreat centres like Lough Derg and Catholic charities like Trocaire.
In one of the larger conference rooms, and audience of about 200 were listening to a panel discussion on homelessness featuring speakers from Irish and UK charities.
Underscoring the international aspect of the event, when it came to the Q&A section those taking to their feet included people from Boston, South Africa and France. Translators sitting in a corner booth provided live Spanish and Italian updates, and a smattering of attendees held audio headpieces throughout.
By mid-morning the RDS’s food and coffee stalls were bustling as more people arrived – often in groups, and some even carrying flags denoting their country of origin. In terms of age profile – not unexpectedly, Irish attendees appeared to skew older but the international groups had a higher representation of students and families with children.
“It’s great. It’s light, it’s relaxed and it’s people interested in the Church,” Brother Sean Donohoe of the Capuchin Day Centre said, chatting TheJournal.ie outside one of the venue’s many cafes.
It is hugely international because it’s a world meeting – it’s not an Irish meeting, it’s not about the Irish Church. It’s about the worldwide Church but it mirrors what’s happening in Ireland too – we have so many nationalities now.
Brother Sean’s centre, which provides 900 meals a day for those in need, will welcome Pope Francis this Saturday evening. Brother Sean himself wouldn’t have a chance to stick around to listen to any more speakers today, he said: “I have to go and get the dinner on“.
In another large conference space, a capacity crowd listened to UCD cyberpsychologist Dr Mary Aiken and other experts at a panel discussion titled ‘Dignity and Safety in a Digital Age’.
Other events on the programme for today included discussions on families coping with addiction, ‘throw-away’ culture and a discussion extolling the benefits of getting married in the Catholic Church.
Organisers of the three-day pastoral congress, speaking at the daily afternoon press conference, talked up the fact that such a large number of women were taking part in the panels as speakers and moderators.
Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who is host of the event, also spoke of his relief that it was all finally under way – saying he was now able to “breathe easier”.
Press coverage of the event in recent weeks has focused on issues like the decision to deny an exhibition stand to the group We Are Church Ireland, which advocates for the inclusion of LGBT families in the Church.
Former President Mary McAleese has also criticised the RDS event, describing it in a radio interview last weekend as a right-wing rally.
“It was designed for that purpose,” McAleese said, “to rally people to get them motivated to fight against the tide of same-sex marriage, rights for gays, abortion rights, contraceptive rights”.
Inside the exhibition space various pro-life groups handed out leaflets and answered questions from attendees.
The Holy Family Mission, which runs year-long courses for young people seeking to develop their faith, said they had had plenty of interest in the course of the day so far.
In the middle of the busy main hall, a group gathered at a Catechism studies stall for prayers marking the midday Angelus.
Other stalls offered religious CDs, books and decorations – and towards the back of the arena a Skoda decked out with specially-commissioned stained glass windows provided an unexpected talking point (don’t worry, no-one’s planning to drive it anywhere).
The most popular stall? If the number of people stopping for selfies with the merchandise is anything to go by it has to be the stand offering officially-licensed Pope Francis dolls.
In case you’re interested – yes, they’re here all week, while stocks last, and they’re €35 a pop (a pope).
Good luck to her. Hopefully some of the other finalists get a chance to launch their ideas as well
It must be awkward carrying that big phone.
People tend to use the same GP because patient history is one of the most important diagnostic elements. Will this be a problem for her model?
It maybe I’ve just been watching too much House…
Ignoreland…..perhaps the patients history could be put into a database and be accessed by the patient using a P.I.N?
For a country the size of Ireland, it should be possible to network the whole system. If I have an injury in donegal then it should be possible for them to access my records even though I’m based in the Midlands.
Email should be a given instead of slow mail when gp’s are writing a referral. Plus text message reminders for out patient appointments.
It’s more complicated than you would imagine to have digital health records.
Way to go girl, good on you great idea
Well done to her. I hope she focuses on Ireland though, not just Dublin.
Best idea I’ve heard of since Google! Go girl!
Who gives out these awards? No website, no App, only an idea. This idea will die in the crib. Taxi drivers in UK are trying to make Uber and Halo illegal. Trying to do the same thing in the medical industry (a hugely regulated industry with powerful unions) is stupid. This lady will be eaten for breakfast. Might work in medical areas that are not regulated, like Chinese medicine. Saying “you go girl” without thinking critically about the idea is really patronising to her.
Don’t get me wrong, I wish we lived in a world where this app would be successful. I am no lover of unions and government regulations, but a business has to work in the real world
i think the idea of the compeition is to win funds to develop,test, launch so those end user products will come. never put the cart before the horse. having an app and a website before having a solid idea with promise never really works, your app and website just sits there doing nothing. i’m sure she has a rough visual prototype, presentation etc of how it works to pitch with.
having said that, i do see problems with the idea itself. GPs as we all know are expensive, “more business for GPs” – cry me a river, canceled appointments is of no loss to GPs, patients reschedule and in many cases theres a cancel fee. Would it mean triple travel expenses for call out fees? A travel expense in GPs terms could be a taxi fare x 3. There are approx 2million medical and GP-visit cards in use here as well. How does it cater for them, and with regarding travel fees. I don’t think the HSE will pay for it no more than old age free travel covers taxi fares. So, back to private customers. If they can afford it then great then thats her target market. I think the fees involved, how many ‘private users’ will sign up for it and of course access to medical records, data security and release of said data would ideas for the app to overcome.
@Alan From an acorn can grow a mighty oak. Ideas are everything.
@patrick, ideas and nothing, implementation is everything. Google didn’t come up with the idea of a search engine, Microsoft didn’t come up with the idea of a computer operating system. Implementation is everything
We need the same for Doctors. I couldn’t even find a reliable site by googling. Doctor app please together with consultancy fee. Thank you.
Good luck to her. I hope that this proposed alternative delivery of healthcare is not a platform for inexperienced professionals (who can’t work in the health system due to recruitment embargo of past few years) to get work. My issue with this is that for some patients who are vulnerable – they may be paying for a service that isn’t top quality. Finally, I look forward to the other 23 applicants proposals to be reported by the journal.
This young lady and her ingenious click clinic app has possibly doubled or trebled the market for the medical professionals offering those services.
Disruptive technology at its most effective!
Well done to her!
Good on ye lass hope it gets taken on.
Is disruptive the new “in-word”?
Have seen this of Twitter and as a fellow physio I see flaws in the business model!! Already websites like what clinic and generally find its more cost effective to invest in google Seo on our own website! But u know what folks fair play to her she is pushing an idea she has into reality!! How many of us have had ideas and never done anything about them!!! My wee bit of advice if the young lady does read this is under promise and over deliver!!
I always worry when I see words like ‘entrepreneur’ and ‘health’ used in the same sentence. That immediately puts me off. But good luck to her and the others too with their inventions.
Unfortunately it’s a zero sum game. There will always be people waiting as long as the health service is understaffed. In fact, it seems unfair that the young tech-savvy people with the app are going to get treatment faster than, and possibly at the expense of, the older people
Well done and best of luck with the idea!
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