A priest jumping out of an airplane was always going to grab attention and so it proved for Fr David Vard, the parish priest for Stradbally, Vicarstown and Timahoe, who led a motley crew of parishioners in a Sky Dive on Sunday morning.
The ‘Reach for the Skies’ fundraiser had 11 participants from across the three areas – who raised funds for new sound systems in the three churches – and did a Sky Dive in the Irish Parachute Club in Clonbollogue in Offaly on Sunday.
In all they have raised over €20,000 with donations still being accepted on the Go Fund Me page.
Fr Vard’s disciples for this particular mission included an undertaker, a guard, a nurse, a postman and a reporter from LaoisToday among others who bravely took to the skies and then jumped, with a professional in tandem, from 13,000 feet.
On a glorious sunny morning, they landed back on ground where their safe arrival was cheerfully welcomed by friends and family members who had come out in support.
Speaking on the LoveLaois Podcast last week, Fr Vard joked that he was “doubly hard” on the Feast of the Guardian Angels that “they’d guide us nicely and easily down to the soft ground of Offaly”.
“People have been so generous,” he added on a serious note. “At one point I only had so many places – I had to turn down a few people which was not what I was expecting to do.
“I think a Sky Dive is novel, it gets people’s attention – a priest jumping from a plane. It’s a bit of fun.
“The second reason, a priest once said to me when I was a curate in a different parish, ‘if the people can’t hear you, see you or they’re cold in a church, they’re not praying’.
“I’ve been in Stradbally a year and I’m beginning to work on all three of those things in our churches.
“This Sky Dive fundraising is going towards particularly improving our sound system.
“Technology moves so fast and things need a bit of improving. I want to (perhaps) put a loop system into the churches for anyone with a hearing aid.
“Funerals are a big thing in parishes. Maybe improve the outdoor speakers; we have web cams now in some of the churches, might get a webcam in Vicarstown. Make communication and it easier for people to attend mass and to hear mass.”
Those that took part were: Fr David Vard, Roghan Headen, Aidan McCabe, Leona Carolan, Anne Marie Bowe, Ciaran McEvoy, Dean Maher, Tristan Kelly, Liam Whelehan, Chris Moran and Steven Miller.
Check out a great selection of Ross Molloy images below while you can still also donate to the Fundraiser on the Go Fund Me link below.
