Mags Gargan
A Co. Mayo parish priest is on a mission to improve his parishioners’ health with an Operation Transformation fitness programme under the slogan ‘pray together, weigh together’.
Based on the health and fitness programme airing on RTÉ One, 52 parishioners in Tourmakeady are going for regular walks and fitness classes with their PP Fr John Kenny.
Activities
“The parish is preparing for a football competition which we are hosting in 2017 – Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta – and we are promoting sports and health,” Fr Kenny told The Irish Catholic. “There are a lot of activities going on like dancing, Zumba, pilates and so on, but Operation Transformation grabbed the most attention.”
The priest, who surfs, paddle boards and teaches dance classes, said the group has a weigh in every Monday evening and then goes for a run or a jog. “We usually have a guest speaker. This week it was Mayo GAA senior football player Donal Vaughan and Martin McIntyre of the Sports Injuries & Sports Medicine Clinic in Castlebar.”
The parish group have lost a combined weight of just over 21 stone in two weeks, but Fr Kenny said weight is not really the issue, but getting people active. “The weight loss hopefully is a positive side effect,” he said.