A Wexford man who spent nine years providing a free mass livestream as a ‘gift’ to his late grandfather has been left blindsided after being replaced by a professional firm wit hout notice.
John Moynihan has been operating the Ferns Church Live Livestream for over nine years, providing a popular service to residents who are unable to attend the physical service in St Aidan’s Church.
However, the service was pulled without warning recently when residents tuned in as usual to the Facebook page, only to be met with no video.
Taking to Facebook itself, John explained that the service, he started as a kind gesture to his grandfather before it blossomed and served many others, had been replaced by the church in favour of a professional company.
“After almost nine years of daily live streaming mass from Ferns, it appears that the church has decided to go in a different direction with their live streaming going forward.
“I initially set up the service so that my late grandfather Mike Owens could watch mass when he was no longer in a position to attend in-person.
“It is a great source of comfort to me that he, and so many thousands of others over the years including my late uncle, Fr. Jimmy Moynihan, were able to get mass from Ferns that they otherwise would not have been able to get,”
“Having provided the service entirely for free over the years, this was my real reward. While it was imperfect, and it had its occasional issues, it was free,” he said.
Furthermore, he explained that he was disappointed that, after nine years of voluntary service, no one from the church administration let him know and that he had to hear the news from a parishioner.
“While I am not overly sorry that I no longer have to maintain the service due to time and work commitments, I will be honest in expressing my disappointment that no one from Ferns Church saw it fit to contact me to let me know that the new service was being implemented, let alone that it would start broadcasting from today.
“I’m thankful to the parishioner that contacted me yesterday and let me know this was happening – otherwise I would not have known,” he said.
Nevertheless, he wished good luck to Lee Bergin’s Church Media company who will now be streaming services, stating that the most important thing was that people had continued access to the mass online.
“Regardless, the best of luck once again to the new providers, and long may Ferns parishioners be able to receive mass online when they cannot attend the church themselves – that to me, has always been the most important thing.”
However, the parishioners who availed of his reliable service for so long are outraged at John’s treatment and have pointed to the fact that the church will now be paying for a service that had been entirely free.
One parishioner wrote: “Even though he was doing it voluntarily, knowing him as I do, I know that John would have done a top quality and professional job.
“If the parish are so eager to pay for a service then why not pay John.
“He’d probably donate it to charity anyway so that everyone’s a winner.”
Another wrote: “That’s a blow to the local community, having one of our own providing such an invaluable service.”
Another comment read: “Fair play to John, a great man providing a service for free and not expecting even a thank you from anybody. Odd decision.”
A further commentread: “There been a few decisions made lately that is not sitting well with people. Is an awful pity as it was invaluable to the elderly and people abroad.
The Diocese of Ferns was contacted for a comment.