Louth priest left very humbled by reaction to popemobile service

A local parish priest has followed Saint Pope John Paul II in blessing his congregation from the Popemobile.

Fr Malachy Conlon was left feeling very humbled by the reaction to his Holy Thursday service for members of the Cooley and Carlingford area, which saw the popular priest on board for much longer than had been anticipated.

With all churches closed in line with the government’s Covid-19 restrictions, religious orders have had to develop alternative ways of connecting with their followers, but nobody can match the efforts of Fr Conlon and co.

“It was one of the most humbling experiences of my priesthood I would say - and I’m 34 years a priest,” Fr Conlon told The Democrat.

“It was a tremendous privilege for me to bring the Eucharist to the people and I was really warmed by the response and the people’s gratitude. The volume of gratitude after Holy Thursday was immense.”

“It was all very spontaneous,” he said of the planning process.

“We had a meeting, via Zoom, of the Parish Pastoral Council, and we were looking at different ways in which we could reach out to people who were isolated and alone.

“We put together a team who would touch base with those people and then someone suggested a blessing. Because it was Holy Thursday and the day in which the Eucharist was instituted, we mulled it over and thought it would be good to give a blessed sacrament to the people.

“With the Hanlon family owning the Popemobile, it made it very easy for us to access it and they made it very readily available to us.

“But having put those bits and pieces together, I didn’t expect the response that we got. People came out in great numbers. They stayed at their own homes, as was recommended because we didn’t want people to congregate.

“The driver, Micheal Hanlon, and myself, we did a run the previous day and worked out that it would take three hours. But on the day it took six hours because there were so many people out.

“It was a long day, but well worthwhile. There was a moving response.”

The blessing on Thursday was just the beginning of a spiritual and rewarding holy week period.

“We celebrated the Passion at 3pm on Good Friday, which went out on webcam, and then the Stations of the Cross at eight o’clock. On Holy Saturday evening, we had the Easter Vigil from Grange Church, also on the webcam.

“And just to try and connect with the people, in line with the shared solidarity candle lighting across the country, when I was lighting the paschal fire as part of the ceremony at eight o’clock, simultaneously outside of each of our churches there was a big fire lit.

“At nine o’clock, Jenny Hanlon sang at the fire. In Mullabuoy, Zoe Conway and John McIntyre, they played. And in Grange, a local soprano, Roisin Bradley, sang at the fire.

“All of that is on Facebook, if people want to check it out.”

The Popemobile was acquired by the late John Hanlon, an avid collector of vintage machinery, at an auction in Scotland in 2006. It had been used by Pope John Paul II during his visit to Britain in 1982 and is one of just two in the world.