A roundup of today's other regional in brief
Man removed from First Holy Communion after shouting abuse
A man had to be forcibly removed from a First Holy Communion ceremony in Co Clare at the weekend after he approached the altar and roared abuse at the officiating priest, writes Pat Flynn.
The incident occurred at about midday at the Cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul in Ennis just as the ceremony was nearing its conclusion.
The clearly upset man, thought to be in his 50s, waited for the choir to finish singing before be began. According to eye-witnesses, the man shouted, “Typical. Hypocrites. Ye are all hypocrites,” and also said, “This is the next generation to be abused.”
One parent said: “He just walked up the aisle and stood about two rows back from the top. He was about 10 metres from the priest. He stood there, looked around him once, and when the music stopped he started. No one knew what was going on, but then another man got up and approached him.”
A parent told the man to leave, but he refused to do so. The man was warned that gardaí would be called. A second man intervened and identified himself as a garda.
A third man got up, and the three of them rushed him back down the aisle and out the door. “When we got out of the church, the man was gone,” another parent said. “I don’t think the kids were all that put out by it to be honest. They weren’t crying or anything, but some were a bit edgy afterwards, not knowing what was happening or what was going to happen next,” one mother added.
UCC, Naval Service in plankton project
The Naval Service and University College Cork (UCC) have initiated a joint marine research project renewing the kind of collaboration first seen two centuries ago with a scientist who influenced Charles Darwin, writes Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent.
Offshore plankton data which will give key data on ocean activity is being collected by UCC’s Coastal Marine Research Centre (CMRC) in co-operation with the Naval Service. The Cork Plankton Initiative will inform marine scientists on indications of climate change, and be used to develop an early warning system on jellyfish.
Project director Dr Tom Doyle of CMRC notes the collaboration comes almost two centuries after scientist John Vaughan Thompson conducted one of the first ever plankton tows in the world in Cork harbour, with aid from a British navy store man.
Rector laid to rest days after marriage
THE funeral service will take place in Co Cavan today of a Church of Ireland rector who died suddenly just three days after he got married.
Rev Alan Matchett, Church of Ireland rector of Adare union of parishes, Co Limerick died unexpectedly from a sudden illness last Friday.
Rev Matchett (40), is survived by his widow Lisa Matchett nee Middleton whom he married in her home church of Knockbride, near Bailieborough, Co Cavan, just last Tuesday. His funeral Mass will take place in the same church today at 3pm.
A gifted organist, Rev Matchett returned in 2008 to the Limerick area where he had served a curacy in St Mary’s Cathedral to be rector of St Nicholas in Adare. He met his wife-to-be during his first incumbency in the Bailieborough group of parishes.