Bishop Fintan Gavin welcomed parishioners and priests and religious from across the diocese.
The ceremony included the:
Renewal of Priestly Promises
Blessing of the Oil of the Sick
Blessing of the Oil of Catechumens
and the Consecration of the Chrism
Bishop Fintan acknowledged especially the contibution of priests across the diocese in a time of a lot of change.
“I want to acknowledge the generosity of so many of our priests who generously continue to minister beyond the retirement age of parish priests at 75 years."
“Your openness as priests to respond to this reality has allowed us to respond in pro-active and creative ways and I want to acknowledge and thank you for this today, because your openness and generosity has been nothing short of heroic and I witness this on a daily basis and hear about it from parishioners as I visit parish communities all the time.”
Bishop Fintan also reminded the whole congregation that each one is called to be a disciple.
“As I visit parishes for confirmations and pastoral visits at weekends, I am conscious that already we have so much to be grateful for, with funeral teams, choirs, altar servers, ministers of the Word and Eucharist, stewards, parish assemblies, or parish councils, parish finance committees, baptism teams and so much more. We have so much to build on and renew.”
“All of us through baptism are called to be missionary disciples with co-responsibility for our local church. The future is hopeful if we listen to the Holy Spirit.”
The names and backgrounds of the people who took active parts in the liturgy, along with the multi-national gathering of priests illustrated the diversity of cultures and gifts which make up the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Cork and Ross.