David vs. Goliath: The Irish TFP Fights Back Against Paganism and the Puca Festival

By Damien Murphy

The Puca Festival took place from Thursday 31st October to Sunday 3rd November 2024 and is a festival which promotes Irish pagan gods and pagan “traditions”. As such, the festival is a threat to the True Catholic Faith and the Christian culture of Ireland. This year, the festival faced its greatest opposition so far.

In a sustained month-long campaign, Irish Society for Christian Civilisation – ISFCC held two Rosary Rallies, distributed 5,000 leaflets against the Festival to every household in Trim and the surrounding towns and had the same leaflet printed in two newspapers as paid advertisements.

Rosary Rallies

Taking inspiration from our sister group in the Netherlands which did a multi-pronged campaign against a charity promoting sex-ed in schools, the Irish TFP decided to hold a rally outside Failte Ireland HQ to oppose its funding of the neo-pagan Festival. Despite the dismal weather forecast, only a light rain fell. Volunteers distributed the leaflet Puca Festival: Innocent Fun or a Door to the Occult to all the passers-by. After reading about the festival, some were genuinely shocked and thanked us for opposing it.

A Rosary Rally also took place in Trim just a few hours before the Puca Procession – the most pagan and Satanic event of the festival – made its way through Trim. Thanks be to God, eighty people attended the Rosary rally, some travelling as far as Limerick. Many locals also attended and even provided tea and sandwiches afterwards to all the participants. After the Rosary Rally ended at 4pm, one group of dedicated Catholics did yet another Rosary through the streets of Trim before they also joined the rest for tea and sandwiches. May Our Lady bless them!

The banners reminded people that this is a fight between Catholicism and paganism. The Festival is not innocent fun but a gateway to the occult and therefore very dangerous.

A Leaflet in Every Post-box

In the weeks leading up to the Festival, youth from the Dom Bosco Programme, a monthly  apostolate of ISFCC, distributed 5,000 leaflets to every household in Trim and the surrounding towns. Locals provided us with meals and the lads brought their bikes, making the distribution very fast and efficient. It was hard work, especially when apartments had to be done, but Our Lady blessed the endeavour and everyone was in high spirits.

Banned in the Newspapers

The leaflet was re-formatted to work as a newspaper paid advertisement, but several newspapers refused to publish it. One newspaper responded saying that they were “not comfortable publishing an advertisement criticising an established and publicly-funded festival”. Well, at least they were honest.

Conclusion

In any campaign it is important to remember all the reasons we are fighting. We are not just fighting for the end of the Puca Festival. We are also fighting for the soul of Catholic Ireland, for the True Faith and for the eventual triumph of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart over the devil. This last reason we know is certain. The last battle is already decided in our favour and the devil knows he will suffer a crushing defeat. What is still to be decided is the fidelity of each one of us to God’s law and our willingness to sacrifice for Him who died for us on the cross. The Puca Festival is one attempt of the devil to promote paganism in Ireland. As long as the Puca Festival continues, Irish Society for Christian Civilisation will continue to oppose it.