Around 340 boys and girls from the Portlaoise parish will have to wait a little longer to receive their Confirmation in O’Moore Park.
Plans were originally in place for Saturday August 28 – but they have now been pushed back to September 18.
The ceremony will still take place outdoors and Bishop Denis Nulty will be there to officiate.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Monsignor John Byrne said the rising number of new Covid infections forced the postponement.
He said: “We thought we’d be in a better place by August but we’re not.
“Hopefully we’ll be in a better place next month.
“There is light at the end of the tunnel but the tunnel is longer than we thought.”
It may well be only the second ever Confirmation ceremony to be held in a GAA stadium, with Nowlan Park in Kilkenny set to take place on September 9.
Speaking on the LaoisToday Podcast last month, Fr David Vard, a priest in Portlaoise, outlined how the ceremony will take place.
He said: “The idea of O’Moore Park actually came from Kilkenny as they are doing something similar in Nowlan Park
“The bishop is going to come and we are going to make it a really big celebration – but a safe one.
“We aren’t going to fill the stadium. At the moment, the restrictions say that we can have 500 people in an outdoor stadium that sits 5,000 or more.
“O’Moore Park’s stand can hold 7,000 we are told by the GAA so we would need three sittings to do it.
“We have around 340 children, plus parents and a sponsor – so no different to three sittings that would usually take place in the church I suppose.”
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