Former pharmacist ordained as priest for Waterford diocese

A former pharmacist has been ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore. 

Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan ordained Clonmel native, Mark O’Farrell, to the priesthood in the diocesan Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity in Waterford City this past weekend (Sunday August 20). 

He is the second priest to be ordained for the diocese in less than two years, with a third candidate currently halfway through the seven years of studies required for the priesthood. 

For his Ordination Mass, Father Mark was joined by dozens of priests and hundreds of the faithful who came to pray for him during the ceremony. 

Mark was a pharmacist in the Galway Clinic before he decided to follow his calling to the vocation of priesthood. 

After the ceremony, outside of the Cathedral, a friend of Father Mark remarked on his new direction saying, “Having spent many years working as a community pharmacist, Father Mark has helped people to cure their bodily ailments, he will now dispense the medicine that gives eternal life.”