Irish and Romanian clergy come together for St Patrick’s Day Mass in Ballymore
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Blessing the spot where unbaptised babies would have been buried. From left, Fr Oliver Devine, PP, Ballymore; Fr Godwin Atede, PP, Tang; Fr Barry White, CC, Mullingar; Most Rev Tom Deenihan, Bishop of Meath; Most Rev Josif Paulet, Bishop of Iasi; Fr Andrei Stolnicu, CC, Mullingar; Fr Damian Budau, CC, Tullamore; and Fr Ciprian Solomon, CC, Drogheda.Image 2 of 6
Fr Godwin Atede, PP, Tang, pictured at the statue of St Patrick in Ballymore church on St Patrick's Day.Image 3 of 6
The concelebrants at the St Patrick's Day Mass in Ballymore were, from left, Fr Cristian Barnat, Iasi; Fr Godwin Atede, PP, Tang; Fr Damian Budau, CC, Tullamore; Most Rev Josif Paulet, Bishop of Iasi; Most Rev Tom Deenihan, Bishop of Meath; Fr Barry White, CC, Mullingar; Fr Oliver Devine, PP, Ballymore; Fr Andrei Stolnicu, CC, Mullingar; and Fr Ciprian Solomon, CC, Drogheda.Image 4 of 6
The altar servers at the St Patrick’s Day ceremonies in Ballymore were, from left, Tiernan Connell, Elena Scott, Neil Moran, Lisa Mallon, Conor Meares and Kate Mallon.Image 5 of 6
Fr Oliver Devine, PP Ballymore, about to lay a wreath on the memorial to unbaptised infants buried in Ballymore.Image 6 of 6
The bishops and priests making their way through the cemetery in Ballymore.In what is believed to be a first for Ballymore, portions of the St Patrick’s Day Mass in the local Church of the Most Holy Redeemer on Friday were celebrated in the Romanian language.
That’s because the parish had the honour of having the Most Rev Josif Paulet, Bishop of Iasi (pronounced ‘Yesh’) diocese, and four priests from that diocese concelebrate the Mass with the Bishop of Meath, Most Rev Tom Deenihan, and the local clergy.
Three of the priests from Iasi who participated in the ceremony are ministering in the Meath diocese: Fr Andrei Stolnicu is curate at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Mullingar; Fr Ciprian Solomon is serving in Drogheda and Fr Damian Budau is attached to the parish of Tullamore.
The fourth Romanian priest present was Fr Cristian Barnat, who acted as interpreter for Bishop Paulet. Ballymore PP Fr Oliver Devine and Fr Godwin Atede, PP of Tang, also concelebrated the Mass and assisting at the ceremony was Fr Barry White, Mullingar.
In the course of the ceremony, Bishop Deenihan expressed his thanks to Bishop Paulet for loaning priests to the Meath diocese, admitting it would be difficult for the diocese to manage without the assistance of the Romanian priests.
In turn, Bishop Paulet extended thanks to the Meath diocese for the collection it made in order to assist the Diocese of Iasi help meet the cost of helping the Ukrainians fleeing war who made their way to neighbouring Romania. Bishop Deenihan paid warm tribute to the choir and musicians who perform at the Masses in Ballymore, saying that other parishes could only wish to have the same quality of music and singing.
Following the Mass, the priests walked to a corner of the cemetery in Ballymore which was formerly used as a burial place for unbaptised babies. There, the parish has now erected a headstone in memory of the babies, and after the plot was blessed and the children remembered in prayer, a wreath was laid before the headstone by Fr Devine.
Bishop Deenihan said such plots existed in many parishes, and that was “a terrible blight” on church history.