Mags GarganIn this Year of Consecrated Life the parish of Drumlish/Ballinamuck in Co. Longford responded to Pope Francis’ call to ‘Wake up the World’ by arranging a special celebration to honour the priests and religious who were natives of the parish.
Organisers said it was relatively easy to put on paper the names and photos of the 68 native priests and religious, because most of them were on the parish website.
Parish priest, Fr Ber Hogan, invited Bishop Francis Duffy to celebrate the Mass and the church was packed to capacity. The choir sang the specially commissioned song, Wake the World with Dawning Joy. Then, as the name of each of the 68 was called out, a relative carried a lighted candle to the altar. Each relative, in return, received a scroll from Bishop Francis which contained a pictorial record of the priests and religious who were being honoured on the day. The most distinguished son of the parish was Bishop William O' Higgins who laid the foundation stone of St Mel's Cathedral in Longford in 1840.
Bishop Francis gave thanks to God for the generosity and sacrifices made by all these natives of the parish who spent their lives spreading the message of God's love all over the world and down through the ages.