Very Rev Frank Purcell to become PP of Inistioge

BISHOP DERMOT Farrell has announced that the very Reverend Frank Purcell, Team Leader Saint John’s Parish, Kilkenny City, to become the Parish Priest in Inistioge.

The appointment comes about as the current PP, the Very Reverend Raymond Dempsey, is to take on further studies.

These are some of numerous clerical appointments for the Diocese of Ossory which will come into effect on September 25.

Bishop Farrell said: ‘As you know very well, the past four months have been a very difficult time for people in our country and all across the world. People of faith, as individuals and communities, have not been immune to the challenges, the difficulties, and the pain of this time. Both people and priests have found themselves in a situation of significant spiritual and pastoral challenge.’

Bishop Farrell said: ‘ The very real challenges and risks of the pandemic may not be allowed to blind us to the broader pastoral situation in which we find ourselves, and which had concerned us all long before the current crisis. It is important that parishes remain alert to the possibility that a priest who retires or is moved to another parish might not be replaced. While parishes in that situation will be looked after pastorally and administratively by the priests in the pastoral area, the loss of their priest, is a very significant change in a parish. These challenges call us, both laity and ordained, to discover new ways to serve and support each other as we seek to follow the Lord in a new time.’

Expressing concern about the lack of candidates coming forward to offer themselves for diocesan priesthood, and to serve the sacramental and pastoral needs of our Church, he said: ‘I also know that our call is not to lose heart, but to hold on to the Lord’s promise to “be with us until the end of the age” (see Matthew 28:20).’