New priest at Tubber is Offaly man

The new face on the altar at Masses in Rosemount and Tubber for the foreseeable future is to be a man who grew up not too far away.

“I’m originally from Clonminch, in Tullamore,” reveals Fr Noel Weir (pictured), who took up his new position last weekend – just as churches were finally allowed hold public Masses once more.

Fr Weir’s parents are deceased, but he has family in the area still - one sister living in Mucklagh and one in Screggan, as well as a brother in Australia.

Fr Noel, who qualified as a mechanic before answering the call to the priesthood, was ordained in 2015, and has spent the last four years in the parish of Laytown/Mornington in Co Meath.

His predecessor in Rosemount/Tubber, Fr Tony Gavin, has been appointed by Bishop Tom Deenihan to the parish of Navan.

A big parish, Fr Weir will have responsibility for two churches and two schools – in an area that takes in parts of two counties, since Rosemount is in Westmeath and Tubber in Offaly.

“I am just finding my feet,” says Fr Weir, who has been meeting parishioners.

“I wouldn’t know the area that well but I was at St Thomas’s in Rosemount for the ordination of Fr Joe Campbell.”

He is, however looking forward to the new challenge: “I would hope to serve the parish here well in the ministry of the priesthood and I hope the people will like me and that we will work together well, and I would ask that they keep me in their prayers.”