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| Outside Tuam Cathedral, 23rd June Rev. John Regan, Fr Gerard Quirke and Mr Donal McMahon |
Children embark on their preparation for First Holy Communion in September and, after a year of following the Do This in Memory programme in the schools and at Mass on Sundays, they reach their goal in May with the reception of the sacrament. Older children prepare in a similar way for Confirmation and receive that sacrament towards the end of the school year. Weddings, too, take place more frequently as the summer months approach. Finally, there is the far less common sacrament of ordination. In this case we have mature men studying hard over several years in the national seminary of Maynooth or in the Irish College in Rome, all the while discerning whether this is indeed the right road for them. At the end of the academic year, they are ordained in their parishes all over Ireland -- or in the cathedrals, as was the case with our own Seamus McEntee on 3 June 2014 in Dublin's Pro-Cathedral (let's recall the joyful occasion here). Robert Smyth from Knocklyon who studied in Maynooth and in Rome was ordained priest for the Dublin diocese on Friday, 29th June, in the Pro-Cathedral (read Archbishop Martin's homily here)..
Beyond our parishes but involving two people from them, the photo above shows Fr Gerard Quirke outside St Jarlath's Cathedral,Tuam, following his ordination on Sunday 3rd June as a priest of the Tuam diocese. On the left is John Regan who was ordained priest for the Pallottine order in St Mary's Westport on Sunday, 23rd June. On the right is Donal McMahon of Saggart who taught Gerard and John during their first and his final two years in Maynooth (2011-1013). They then proceeded to their studies of Theology, when they were taught by Fr Michael Shortall.
