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Priest urges end to First
Communion 'production line'
16.06.15
CULDAFF-born priest Fr
Paddy O'Kane has revealed that of 121 children who
recently made their First Holy Communion at his
parish, just 20 returned to Mass the following
Sunday.
Fr O'Kane, who is a parish priest at Holy Family,
Derry, described the figure as "profoundly
disappointing", adding that his experience was being
mirrored throughout the diocese.
His comments come after another senior priest, Fr
Michael Canny, recently drew criticism for saying
that First Holy Communion had, for some families,
become "an excuse for a party".
Fr Canny, who is official spokesman for the Bishop
of Derry, Dr Donal McKeown, said the sacrament had
become an exercise in "hypocrisy and mass delusion". |
Fr O'Kane told
parishioners that Fr Canny's comments had angered
some because "the truth hurts".
He said priests are now pushing for childhood
religious sacraments to be made "opt-in" rather than
the traditional school "production line".
"Out of 121 children who made their First Holy
Communion this year only about 20 returned to Mass
the following Sunday, even though it marked the end
of the ‘Do This in Memory of Me’ programme. This is
profoundly disappointing," Fr O'Kane wrote in his
Sunday newsletter at Holy Family parish.
He said a new approach would see an end to the
'automatic entitlement' to the sacrament through
schools. |
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Fr Paddy O'Kane. |
Meanwhile, Clonmany-born
Fr Canny who is parish priest in the Waterside,
Derry, told Inishowen News: “The issues relating to
First Holy Communion and other sacraments is being
reflected upon by priests and the Bishop of Derry
among many other issues surrounding church
attendance.”
Fr O'Kane has also invited suggestions via email on
how to resolve the issue:
paddy@okanes.org
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