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St Carthage's Catholic Cathedral, Lismore, County Waterford.

Built in the 1860's St Carthage's is one of the places designated by the Bishop Lee of Waterford to be visited as part of the Jubilee Year 2000. The other designated places are Ardmore,Waterford Cathedral, Mount Melleray Abbey.

The Farewell Homily of Fr.Michael Walsh.

Father moved this week 8.7.2000. to become Parish Priest of of a church in Ballylooby,County Waterford, below ids his farewell homily giving on the 2nd July 2000 at the 9.30am Sunday Mass.

In his farewell homily Father said he was sad to be leaving St Carthage’s parish which he had enjoyed very much, in particular the annual Stations where he was always asked to bring along the fiddle or the box to play a few tunes after the Mass.

He said he would loved to have made contact with more people during his time in the Parish but through pressure of other duties, time did not always allow.

Father raised a smile when he related the story about a priest who when moving on from a parish he had been at a few years, said to one of his Parishioners,’The new priest you have coming to replace me is very nice, to which the parishioner replied with a slight grin , ‘that’s what the last priest said about you! ‘

The days in the past when the lay people were told by the clergy of old to, ‘Sit up. Shut up, and Pay up,’ existed no longer in Ireland which was a good thing remarked Fr Walsh, but he said, the vocations situation in County Waterford was becoming critical with 5 or more priests retiring every year and that this year there would be no candidates at all going forward to train for the priesthood to take their place.

Quite possibly I will be the last Curate based at St Carthage’s, he said, but perhaps the Lord has other plans and wants lay people to take a more active role in the future, he said.

Father then related a story about a parish he knew about where for a while they had no priest at all, until eventually a person went forward from their own group to train as a priest, he said.

The Rev Canon Thomas Nugent will be standing down from his position of Parish Priest, and soon St Carthage’s, Lismore will be looking forward to the arrival of Fr Mulcahy from Ballyduff who will be taking over as the new parish priest shortly.

At the end of the homily , he thanked Canon Nugent for his help, and the congregation broke into a spontaneous round of applause for Fr Walsh , a popular priest and man of many talents both musical and artistic, who leaves Lismore just a few days before the first ever Munster Fleadh Cheoil comes to the town.

Mass Times..

Saturday Eve ..Vigil Mass 7.30pm.. . . Sunday Morning . . 9.30am. . .11am.

Weekdays. . . . .10am.

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