Council to honour departing Franciscans

Athlone Moate Municipal District is to bestow civic honours on the Franciscans in recognition of their 800 years of service to the people of Athlone and surrounding areas.

At their November meeting this week, councillors were unanimous in their support of a motion from Cllr Frankie Keena calling on the council to host an official Address of Recognition for the Franciscan Order to thank them for their “their 800 years spiritual and caring service” to the local population.

Fianna Fail councillor Frankie Keena said that the news that the Franciscans were leaving Athlone had been greeted with “shock and disbelief” by local people.

“The Friary has always been a place to go for someone who has a special request and to light a candle and the spiritual and caring service provided by the friars is excellent and now unfortunately this is coming to an end next January,” he said.

After the announcement, Cllr Keena said he contacted the order to see if anything could be done to reverse the decision, and to make them aware of the strong level of support for them from the local community.

“Unfortunately, I was told that the issue is the age demographics of the friars with over 70% of them over the age of seventy years, and the only solution would be to get new people to join the friars,” he said.

Cllr Keena also stated that the future of the Friary Church in Athlone lies in the hands of the diocese and an immediate decision on this is delayed because there is a wait on a bishop to be appointed to the local Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois.

There was unanimous agreement on Cllr Keena's call for civic honours to be bestowed on the Franciscan Order, and the District Manager, Jackie Finney, agreed to make the necessary arrangements.

Cllr Keena also confirmed to this week's meeting that he spoke to the friars about his proposal for a civic reception in advance of raising his motion and received a positive response.