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SPECIAL SERVICES MARK DEATH OF PONTIFF
 MEMBERS
of the city's Catholic Community will join with millions
around the world this morning (Friday) to mourn the passing
of Pope John Paul II.
The late Pontiff who died at the Vatican on
Saturday evening will be buried at St. Peter's Basilica in
Rome following Requiem Mass.
At St. Patrick's Church in Chapel Hill the usual morning
Mass at 10.00am has been cancelled.
Instead, Mass will be celebrated at 7.30am
and 12.00noon to give worshippers an opportunity to both
attend church and watch television coverage of the Pope's
funeral.
On Thursday morning children from Catholic
schools in Lisburn attended a special Mass in memory of the
Pope which also took place in St. Patrick's.
This was celebrated at 11.00am and pupils of
St. Patrick's High School and St. Joseph's and St. Aloysius
Primaries took part in the Scripture readings, Prayers of
Intercession and the Presentation of the Gifts.
Other churches in the Lisburn area are also
holding special services to mark the death of Pope John
Paul.
A special Mass was celebrated at St. Anne's,
Kingsway on Monday evening and many people were also
expected to attend Mass in the church this morning at 8.30.
Worshippers will gather at Mater Dei Church
in Crumlin this morning at 8.00 for a special Mass which
will end in time to allow people to watch the live coverage
of the Pope's funeral.
A Requiem Mass for the Pope was celebrated
at the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Carryduff
on Wednesday evening.
A Mass will also be held at the Church of
Christ the Redeemer in Lagmore at 7.30pm tonight.
St Luke's Church in Twinbrook has marked the
period of mourning for the Pope with a special Mass in his
memory each day.
Worshippers also gathered at the church last
night (Thursday) at 7.30pm to remember the Pontiff.
The congregation at St. Colman's, Lambeg
attended a special Mass in the Pope's memory last night at
7.30pm.
The Church of the Nativity in Poleglass will
hold a special Mass this morning at 8.30am.
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Churches
responding to call from Bishop Walsh
BY holding special services in memory of Pope
John Paul 11 local churches were responding to a
call from the Bishop of Down and Connor for
every parish in the Diocese to celebrate Mass
'on a suitable date and time for his eternal
peace'.
The Most Reverend Patrick Walsh described the
late Pontiff as 'an heroic man' and said he was
heroic "at every stage of his life from a very
early age when he lost his mother, his only
brother and then his father.
"He was heroic in the hardships he endured
under the Communist regime in his country," the
Bishop continued.
"He was heroic in the manner in which he
endured the attempt on his life and he was
heroic in his long time suffering with bis
illness.
"He heroic in his dying. He taught us how to
live, how to suffer and how to die."
Bishop Walsh said the sadness of Catholics at
the death of the Pope was shared by their fellow
Christians and by 'so many non Christians' whom
he described as 'people of goodwill who
recognised in the Pope a person who in his
constant teaching on so many issues affecting
the good of humanity was in many respects the
conscience of the world'.
He also said when Bishops visited the Pontiff
on five yearly official visits he always showed
a great awareness of life, suffering and death
in the context of the Diocese of Down and Connor
and always expressed particular concern for
those priests who exercised their pastoral
ministry in difficult circumstances.
"I know the faithful people of Down and
Connor will now be praying that, his holy Week
of suffering over, he will, with his sins
forgiven, enter into the Easter joy of the Risen
Christ," the Bishop concluded. |
Lisburn's Parish Priest recalls his meetings with Pope John
Paul
LISBURN'S Parish Priest Father Sean Rogan
met Pope John Paul II on four separate occasions.
The first of these occurred on January 13,
1980 - just month's after the highly successful papal visit
to Ireland - and took place in a room behind one of the
three windows watched anxiously by crowds in the St. Peter's
Square last weekend as the world waited for the sad but
inevitable news of the Pontiff s passing.
Father Rogan recalled how, more than 25
years ago, he waited in one of these same rooms while the
Pope said the Angelus.
"I was looking down over the thousands of
people in the Square when a photographer came in and asked
me if I was the only person meeting the Pope that day," he
said. "Then the Holy Father came in with his Secretary
Monsignor John Magee who is now the Bishop of Cloynes and
there was just the four of us in the room.
"He signed two beautiful pictures of himself
for me - one of these pictures is now in the porch at St.
Patrick's beside the Book of Condolence - and gave me a set
of Rosary Beads."
 Father
Rogan said he thanked the Pope for making his visit to
Ireland and in particular for his trip to Galway which he
had attended with a large number of young people from the
Down and Connor Diocese.
He then had an opportunity to present the
Pontiff with a gift of his own.
"I had Rosary Beads in my pocket which I
bought at Knock when I visited the shrine the previous
October," he explained.
"They had the image of Our Lady of Knock on
them and I gave them to him.
"He said: 'I have given to you and now you
have given to me'.
"When he left the room he went along the
corridor kissing those Rosary Beads."
Father Rogan next met the Holy Father in
July of 1980 when he took a group of 120 young people from
Down and Connor to the Papal summer residence Castel
Gandalfo which is located on the Appian Way in the Roman
countryside. "We spent an hour and a Half with the Pope and
I was in charge of the singing," Father Rogan recalled.
"We sang a lot of songs for him but
eventually we ran out of hymns.
"I explained this to him but he laughed and
said 'the Pope needs more'. "
So then we sang some Irish songs including
the 'Mountains of Mourne'." At this stage someone suggested
Father Rogan should sing 'Danny Boy'. "So I sang Danny Boy
for him and then he got up and everyone came forward to meet
him," he added.
In the years that followed Father Rogan came
upon several mementoes of this trip cherished by the young
people who took part.
Father Feargal McGrady, Parish Priest of St.
Colman's, Lambeg has a much treasured photograph of himself
with Pope John Paul II taken when he went on the pilgrimage
as a young man. Another lady who Father Rogan visits has a
similar photograph of her son taken during the trip to
Castel Gandalfo.
Father Rogan's third meeting with Pope John
Paul II came at the ordination of Father Hugh Kennedy who is
now Parish Priest at the Sacred
Heart Church on Belfast's Oldpark Road.
His final and most poignant meeting with the
Holy Father came three years ago when he and Father Tom
Toner of St. Peter's Cathedral celebrated the 40th
anniversary of their ordination.
The two priests travelled to Rome together
and Bishop Patrick Walsh contacted the Pope's Secretary to
tell him of their special anniversary.
"We were invited to concelebrate Mass with
His Holiness," said Father Rogan.
"This was very special for us but the Pope
was a very sick man at the time.
"However, it was a wonderful occasion and I
have photographs of myself chatting with the Pope and
receiving another set of Rosarv Beads from him."
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Memorable
meeting for a young man
 FATHER
Feargal McGrady, Parish Priest of St. Colman's
Church, Lambeg will never forget the summer of
1980.
He was only 19 when he and more than 100
other young people from the Diocese of Down and
Connor travelled to Italy to meet Pope John Paul
just months after the Pontiffs historic visit to
Ireland.
The trip took place less than two years after
the selection of the Pontiff by the School of
Cardinals and Father McGrady said it was still
'rare' for a party of young people to meet the
Pope in this way.
"It was a very special occasion for me and it
meant a lot," he recalled.
"Really it created a bond which has continued
right up until the present day.
"I went on to meet the Pope several times
since 1980 and he always took a great interest
in Ireland and showed a great regard for this
country."
Father McGrady said the late Pope had made
himself 'very accessible' especially to young
people and at times gave up part of his summer
holidays to meet them.
His meeting with the Holy Father took place
at his summer residence of Castel Gandalfo and
he has a much treasured photograph of himself
with the Pontiff. |
Sympathy letter be
sent to Irish Primate
A REQUEST by Ulster Unionist Councillor Ned
Falloon at the Planning Committee meeting on Monday night
that Lisburn Council send a letter to the Catholic Irish
Primate Sean Brady, expressing the council's deepest
sympathy following the death of Pope John Paul II, was
agreed.
Ulster Star
08/04/05
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