Bishop Fintan with Fr. Tomás Walsh SMA Co-PP with parishioners after Mass in Gurranabraher.Bishop Fintan with Fr. Tomás Walsh SMA Co-PP with parishioners after Mass in Gurranabraher.

This weekend, (24th/25th June) Bishop Fintan Gavin visited Gurranabraher Parish where he met parishioners and viewed the administration of the parish.

He celebrated the 5.30pm Mass on the Saturday and the 11.30am on the Sunday. In his homily at both Masses he mentioned “declining numbers attending worship and the shortage of priests” necessitating the creation of ‘Families of Parishes’. It is hoped that with the collaboration of priests and parishioners from surrounding parishes working together a new springtime would arise for the Church.

At the end of the Mass on the Sunday morning, Bishop Fintan presented two young parishioners from Gurranabraher, Adam Sorenson and Paul Sunday as well as James O'Connor, a young man from Douglas Parish, with the Pope John Paul II Gold Medal Merit Award for their constancy and commitment to specified tasks in the Church. With the sun barely shining it was still a momentous weekend for Gurranabraher Parish

James O'Connor, Paul Sunday and Adam Sorenson who received the John Paul II Gold Medal Awards from Bishop Fintan.