Friars Liam Kelly and Pat Lynch at the stand.

The National Ploughing Championships is an outdoor agricultural show in Ireland incorporating a ploughing contest. Held every September, it draws thousands of exhibitors and draws huge crowds.

This year it took place once again in Screggan, Tullamore, Co Offaly. It achieved a record attendance this year with an overall attendance figure of 291,000 – the highest number ever to attend the event.

Many families dropped by for a chat.

The Franciscans had a stand there to meet and chat with people; many asked for prayers or left wrote a prayer petition for themselves and their families – petitions that were later passed on to the Poor Clares in Galway.

Pope Francis often speaks of bringing the Gospel to the “market place”, to where people are at – the Franciscan stand at the Ploughing Championship did just that!

Seamus Donohue OFM meets and greets.