‘Hard work’ needed to transform church – Fr Gibbons

THE WAITING  Fr Richard Gibbons, Rector of Knock Shrine, waits patiently for the arrival of Pope Francis.  Pic: Michael McLaughlin

Edwin McGreal

THE Parish Priest of Knock has said he believes the Papal visit can do a lot for the church in Ireland, but ‘only if there’s work behind it’.
Speaking to The Mayo News after the Pope’s visit on Sunday, Fr Richard Gibbons said people have the impression that this visit could ‘transform’ the church.
“It’s not just going to happen out of nothing. There has to be an awful lot of hard work and a lot of engagement and discussion,” said Fr Gibbons.
He added that those involved in Knock Shrine were already working on ‘transforming the place’ into a resource centre for the church and the country.
The Louisburgh native referred to the Pope’s acknowledgment of clerical child sex abuse and said Pope Francis ‘knows how desperately serious that issue is worldwide’, and added that a lot has been learned with the introduction of safeguarding procedures.

Welcome
The priest said he was ‘very, very happy’ with how the visit went and said everything had gone ‘according to plan’, and cited the crowds’ welcome for the Pope as one of his highlights, along with welcoming the Pope into the Apparition Chapel.
“You could see he [Pope Francis] was engaged with the statues and the scene, he was well briefed on Knock. It was great just to simply have him here.”
Earlier in the day Fr Gibbons described the visit as a ‘reaffirmation’.
“It’s a reaffirmation of the sacredness of this special place, of the Apparition Chapel, of this Shrine that gives so much hope, so much renewal and so much forgiveness to people through the services we have here. This is where people can have peace and rest.”

Weather
Though crowds endured torrential rain making their way to the Shrine in the early hours of Sunday morning, Fr Gibbons noted that the rain ‘held off’ for the Pope’s flying visit.
“We would have loved it to have been yesterday (Saturday), but it wasn’t and as we told the Vatican crew, ‘Our lady came when it rained’, it’s keeping tradition alive,” he laughed.
Fr Gibbons said the visit has again put the Shrine on the ‘world stage for a brief period’ but said the team at the Marian Shrine are working hard behind the scenes also.