ALMOST AN entire diocese of priests yesterday went on to the Lough Derg pilgrimage island to seek atonement and gain strength in a difficult time for the Catholic Church in Ireland.More than 70 of the 80 priests in the diocese of Clogher joined their bishop, Dr Joseph Duffy, for a pre-pilgrimage day on the island, known as St Patrick’s Purgatory.
The trip came three days after they read out the pope’s message on clerical child sex-abuse in Ireland at Masses on Sunday.
It was a trip planned for some time, since this is the Year of the Priest, but it also fell on the feast of St Macartan, a friend of St Patrick who made him the first bishop of Clogher.
Elderly priests in retirement joined those still in service from parishes stretching from south Donegal across through Fermanagh, Tyrone and Monaghan.
Bishop Duffy said of the pilgrimage: “There is a need for atonement. There is a need for conversion and there is a crying need for renewal of a radical nature in the church, and if this is seen as a part of that, then by all means.
“Priests could learn to value their vocation and to restore any damage done to their self-esteem due to adverse criticism.
“It is a hard time for priests and we are here to derive strength from our faith and to reaffirm our faith together.”
Msgr Richard Mohan, prior of Lough Derg, said one of the things he hoped his colleagues would take away from the day was a sense of being together and supporting one another.
He said: “So many priests feel isolated at the moment and this is our opportunity as priests of the diocese of Clogher. We all have a mission to serve our people and we want to do that as well as we can and so many people have been doing that for years and years and just today is an opportunity to be refreshed in some way and renewed.”
Lough Derg lies 6km north of the village of Pettigo in Co Donegal and has been receiving pilgrims for over 1,000 years.
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