Two parishes welcome new priests to the priesthood
On June 29 both the Diocese of Raphoe and the Diocese of Down & Connor celebrated an ordination to the priesthood.
Fr Stephen Gorman, from Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, was ordained by Bishop Philip Boyce of Raphoe, in the Cathedral of Saints Eunan and Columba in a ceremony attend by his family, friends and concelebrated by over 50 priests.
Bishop Boyce said, “Fr Stephen’s ordination is a joyous celebration for the Church,” and highlighted in his sermon that a priest is a gift from God to his people.
Also on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Fr Dominic McGrattan was ordained in St Patrick’s Church, in his native Portaferry, Co. Down by Bishop Noel Treanor of Down & Connor.
In his homily Bishop Treanor said that “living the priestly ministry may become even more counter-cultural” during the years ahead “whilst at the same time being ever more vitally relevant to the re-discovery of a sense of the dignity of the human person and for the re-discovery of the human sense of the sacred and the holy”.
Meanwhile, the Cistercians in Mount Melleray Abbey, Co. Waterford celebrated their first ordination in eight years on June 27. Fr Donal Davis who entered the monastery in 1978, was ordained by retired Bishop of Waterford & Lismore, William Lee, in the company of family, friends and the community of 18 other men at the Abbey.