Clonmel man is ordained a deacon by the Bishop of Waterford & Lismore

Bishop of Waterford & Lismore Most Rev Alphonsus Cullinan ordained a new deacon from Clonmel at Waterford Cathedral and he will be ordained a priest later this year.

Mark O’Farrell was ordained as a deacon for the Diocese of Waterford & Lismore by Bishop Cullinan on Saturday, January 28.

The ceremony was attended by his family and friends and took place on the Feast of St Thomas Aquinas, which has special significance as Mark’s second name is Thomas after the saint.

Mark O’Farrell was born in Galway and his family moved to Clonmel when he was four-years-old. He attended primary school in SS Peter and Paul’s NS, Clonmel and received his secondary school education at Rockwell College.

According to the Diocese of Waterford & Lismore, Mark’s potential vocation as a priest was spotted at Rockwell. Fr Buckley CSSP gave him spiritual direction when he was 13-years-old, asking if he had ever felt drawn to the priesthood as he had an intuition that Mark had a vocation.

It was to be another 14 years before this vocation was put into action.

Mark completed a Bachelor of Science degree at University College Galway and his religious practice declined during his university years.

But after a Rockwell school reunion, Mark was reminded of Fr Buckley’s advice to pray for guidance. He returned to the sacraments, with a new appreciation of the richness of the faith, the importance of prayer, and closeness of God.

Mark says that when he returned to the practice of his Catholic faith he was immediately drawn towards the priesthood. He returned to college to study pharmacy in 2002 at Brighton University and received his Masters four years later.

Following this, he worked in the Conquest Hospital in Hastings for one year where he obtained his professional registration and was involved in chaplaincy work.

He began his career as a pharmacist in Ireland in 2008.

In 2015, he was working as a pharmacist in Waterford University Hospital, when he made his initial contact with the Diocese of Waterford & Lismore. He met with Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan and they both agreed that Mark had a vocation to the priesthood.
Bishop Cullinan sent Mark to undertake his propaedeutic studies in the Pontifical Beda College in 2016.

He continued his studies in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, the Irish College in Rome and the Angelicum in Rome.
Mark says that his vocation was found in prayer, in his mother’s prayers and ultimately from God.

At his ordination as a deacon, Bishop Cullinan said the word “deacon” comes from a Greek word which means “service” and a deacon is by a sacramental grace chosen to work along with priests and the bishop to live a life of service of the liturgy, the Gospel, and works of charity.

He said Mark was doing something that was a “beacon of light” in our society that is so often “self-centred and individualistic”.
“What you are doing is something infinitely more beautiful.

“You are showing the world that love exists, that true love exists, which is not self-centred, but God-centred,” said the Bishop.