St Joseph’s Parish plans special Mass for Galway Volvo race village

St Joseph’s Parish will hold a special Mass on the main stage of the Volvo Ocean Race festival village in Galway Harbour on the last day of the event, Sunday July 8 at 11am.

Parish priest Fr Martin Downey will lead the Mass and music will be provided by St Joseph’s own Ignite Gospel Choir. All residents and visitors to Galway are welcome and encouraged to attend this special occasion on what promises to be a peaceful and spiritual morning in the race village, after a whirlwind week-long programme of entertainment and spectacle.

The Ignite Gospel Choir is a 40-strong adult choir led by Galway native Keara Shearan and is normally resident for weekend Mass in St Joseph’s Church on Presentation Road. The choir are currently rehearsing for this Volvo Mass and are very excited to be performing on the main stage.

Interest in the Volvo Mass is growing locally through promotion on the St Joseph’s Facebook page. Publications such as The Irish Catholic newspaper will also cover the Mass.

“I was delighted when Fáilte Ireland approached me with the idea of planning a Mass for Volvo on the final Sunday morning of the event, and we are grateful to Let’s Do It Global for providing the fantastic venue,” said Fr Martin Downey. “This presents the Galway Diocese with a unique opportunity to come together and celebrate this momentous event and to give thanks through the medium of Mass. I encourage the congregation of St Joseph’s to come and join us, along with the other parishes across the city and county. We hope by providing this Mass we will embrace visitors to Galway too and offer them the opportunity to attend Sunday Mass in a unique and beautiful open air setting on Galway’s waterfront.”

St Joseph’s Parish Council team have recently engaged in a new communications programme which includes activity around the use of social media tools and a new website currently under construction.

“The objective of this new communications effort is to directly engage with existing parishioners who use social media but to also reach out to other residents within the community of St Joseph’s to keep them up to date with parish news and developments,” said Letitia Wade, a member of the St Joseph’s Parish Council who coordinates the communications campaign for the parish. “It is early days yet but already our Facebook page has over 400 friends with numbers growing daily.”

Become a friend of St Joseph's Parish on Facebook to keep up to date with plans for the Volvo Mass and other new developments from the parish.