Welcome Bishop Paul.
This weekend is a special weekend for our Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois as we welcome Paul Connell as our new Bishop . A native of Mullingar and priest of the diocese of Meath. He will become at 3pm on Sunday the 15th Bishop of the combined diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois. Up until 1756 Clonmacnois was administered by the bishop of Meath.
Now we welcome Paul our new Bishop. His experience has been mostly in the field of Education in St. Finian’s College in Mullingar. We welcome him and we ask God to keep him well and to bless him with all the many gifts he will need; a listening heart, compassion, courage, and good health. At every Mass from now on we will pray for “Paul Our Bishop”. He is now one of us and we hope he can feel at home among us always.
On the day of his appointment Fr Paul said “ As a church we live in interesting times, facing many challenges. Our society is in danger of losing the sense of the sacred. As we look around we see difficulties for the church on all sides. The temptation to despair is great but we must rather take courage and not be afraid” Do not be afraid were the words of Jesus to the women who followed him to Calvary. Fr Paul went on to say “We live in times of change. It is a challenging time to be a priest or a bishop”. Our new bishop’s motto is DEUS SPES MEA (God is my hope). We wish Fr Paul every blessing as he takes on the role of bishop of our diocese.
“Jesus, make our Diocesan Family of 41 parishes, a place of joy and laughter where all our children will be safe and free and feel at home always. “
Ordination Mass will be livestreamed on www.longfordparish.com and broadcast on www.iCatholic.ie and by Shannonside Radio 104.1FM