Mags GarganDunleer to mark bi-centenary of Fr Patrick Dowd
The bi-centenary of Fr Patrick Dowd will be celebrated as part of The Gathering in Dunleer, Co. Louth on November 24. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fr Dowd, who saved thousands of lives in Montreal, Canada during the famine migration of 1847-1848 and helped provide new homes for Irish orphans and widows left destitute in the city’s fever sheds.
The gathering will involve a commemorative Mass at 11:30am in St Brigid’s Church, an historical exhibition, and free lectures from 2pm in St Brigid’s Hall.
Guest speakers include Dr Jason King, a native of Montreal who established a digital Famine Archive about Fr Dowd and the Grey Nuns at the University of Limerick, and Gabriel Mathews who is a direct descendant of the Dowd family.
For more information, contact Gabriel Mathews at gabrielmathews@eircom.net or 087-056 0526.
