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Bonfires welcome new
priest home to Muff
10.07.08
Story: Inishowen Independent
IRELAND'S newest priest, Iskaheen man Fr Daniel
McFaul, celebrated his first Mass earlier this week.
The Sacred Heart Church in Muff was full to
overflowing as parishioners flocked on Monday
evening to hear Fr McFaul offer Mass for the first
time.
Just over 24 hours earlier the local man was
ordained at St Eugene’s Cathedral by Dr Seamus
Hegarty, Bishop of Derry. Afterwards around 400
guests dined at St Columb’s College before Fr McFaul
made a triumphant and emotional return to his native
parish shortly after 10.30pm on Sunday night.
The Muff Accordion Band greeted Fr McFaul at the old
custom’s post and paraded to Muff chapel. A former
member of the band, Fr McFaul took up the drum for
part of the way. Fr McFaul was accompanied on the
emotional walk from the border to the chapel by his
parents James and Eileen, sister Donnamarie and
brother Michael. |
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Fr McFaul offered a
blessing to the parishioners assembled in Muff
chapel where he was presented with a chalice. He
also led the congregation in a rousing rendition of
‘Hail Queen of Heaven’.
Afterwards, the party made its way up to Iskaheen
chapel, the route by roadside bonfires as Papal
flags and bunting fluttered in the night sky.
At Iskaheen chapel the family of the late Fr Eddie
McColgan presented Fr McFaul with priestly items
that the recently deceased missionary priest wanted
the younger man to have. |
Paying tribute to Fr
John Farren, Fr Keaveney, Fr McColgan and Fr McShane,
current and former priests in the parish, Fr McFaul
said: “If I can take a snippet from each man, then I
will have a very full priesthood indeed.”
Afterwards, the congregation returned to the McFaul
household at Drumskellan. “Poor Eileen and James
have been baking for the past six weeks,” Fr Farren
quipped, as guest prepared to feast on a spread of
tea, sandwiches and cakes.
A newly constructed shed provided the venue for an
impromptu hooley with the McColgan clan providing
the traditional music and the new Fr McFaul offering
a few tunes of his own.
Fr McFaul is the only priest to be ordained in the
Derry diocese this year. “Inishowen has a great
tradition of producing priests and it’s a great joy
that Daniel has responded to the call to be a
priest,” said Fr Paul Farren, vocations director for
the Derry diocese. “Vocations are on the rise again
as people realise that no matter what we have, we
need a context in which to enjoy it. And the truest
context is in our relationship with God.” |
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