Diocesan Appointments – January 2025
Fr. John Heinhold SPS to become PP Baltinglass, assisted by Fr. Laurence Kurgat SPS (Kenyan) and Fr. Vincent Agundiade SPS (Nigerian) – the Kiltegan Fathers very generously have agreed to establish a Mission Parish in the heart of our diocese. In addition to locating that Mission Parish in Baltinglass, they will also assist in the wider Pastoral Area including Rathvilly.
Fr. Ger Ahern PP Baltinglass to become PP Tullow
Fr. Brian Maguire PP Tullow to have a six month sabbatical to take up an appointment in September
Fr. Andy Leahy to become CC Clonegal and Myshall while residing for now in St. Patrick’s Missionary Society, Kiltegan
Fr. Yohan Fernando on loan from Badulla Diocese (Sri Lanka) to become CC Naas, Sallins and Two Mile House while also working in the wider Pastoral Area which also includes Kill.
I wish to record my appreciation and thanks to all involved in and affected by these appointments for their support and cooperation. I wish them God’s blessing, good health and happiness as they take up their appointments on Sunday, February 23rd 2025.
+Denis
6th January 2025
Remarks by Bishop Denis at Masses in Grangecon and Baltinglass on January 5th 2025
The parish of Baltinglass has a very rich history. On my last visit here in December I took a photograph of what remains of the Cistercian Monastery on the banks of the River Slaney where the faith story of Baltinglass flourished in 1148. That Abbey was a daughter house of Mellifont Abbey in County Louth, not far from my own home. As I took the photograph I wondered what was going through the mind of the last Cistercian monk who quenched the candle at Baltinglass? Did he think it was all over? Or was something new about to happen?
So let’s talk about the new that is about to happen. I was approached some time back by the leadership team at Kiltegan with the offer of creating a Mission Parish in the heart of our diocese. The parish would develop a strong missionary focus, ready to take on new ventures and projects embracing Pope Francis’ vision of synodality. The idea is that a Mission Team of three would live in a brotherhood of community life and very much have a team approach to their missionary outreach. There is no more suitable parish than Baltinglass for this Mission Parish proposal. Baltinglass ticks all the boxes.
The Kiltegan Fathers have very strong roots in our diocese and indeed in these parts, with affectionate memories of the late Fr. Ned Grace and other men.
Baltinglass as a parish offers huge possibilities for this mission proposal, with its schools, Primary and Post-Primary; its hospital, the fact that there is an urban centre with a more rural hinterland give it a certain missionary appeal.
I am delighted to announce today that Fr. John Heinhold SPS, a native of Cork will lead the team, along with a Kenyan, Fr. Laurence and a Nigerian, Fr. Vincent. They will arrive in Baltinglass on Sunday 23rd February next. The parish very much remains and will always remain a Kildare & Leighlin parish with all the connections, rights and obligations it enjoys, as well as partnering with the Kiltegan Fathers to bring to fruition this fresh and new approach to being ‘parish’ today.
Fr. Ger has been with you here in Baltinglass since 2017. He has done tremendous work in making the three churches fit for purpose, fit for mission. He has invested enormous time with the children and young people in our schools. He has given great attention to the sick and housebound and very much as a Carlow man, made Baltinglass and Wicklow his home these past seven years.
I realise there will be disappointment to see Fr. Ger go, and indeed personal upheaval for him as he prepares to take up another appointment, which will be announced tomorrow, but today is the day to honour the Kiltegan presence in our diocese and particularly this Mission Proposal that will be rooted here in Baltinglass, while assisting in the wider Pastoral Area including Rathvilly.
I know you will welcome Fr. John, Fr. Laurence and Fr. Vincent, as you have done Fr. Ger. This new partnership with the Kiltegan Fathers offers huge potential not only for Baltinglass, but indeed the wider Pastoral Area and the diocese. As Bishop I’m so excited by the opportunities and fresh approach to ministry it offers and am so grateful to the Kiltegan Fathers for offering this parish, this area of the diocese and all of us new hope for the future, in this Jubilee Year of Hope. I am also grateful to Fr. Ger for his generous response to the invitation to a move and thank him sincerely for his work here. Like that Cistercian monk together as a people of God, we turn another chapter in the faith history of Baltinglass.