In one of her last engagements before her inauguration, President Catherine Connolly joined her fellow water enthusiasts in St Mary’s Church the Claddagh for the 15th Annual ‘Swimmers Mass’ on Saturday.

President Connolly – herself a swimmer and annual attender at the Mass – led the public representatives present along with Mayor Mike Cubbard.

The November Mass, organised by Dr Dom Colbert and offered for swimmers and others in the city who have died in the past year, was celebrated by the Prior of the Claddagh Church Dominicans, Fr Matthew Farrell OP, and Fr Tim Mulcahy OP.

The large congregation which included many Saturday 10am Mass ‘regulars’, was welcomed by Joanie Fallon who read out the names of those swimmers who had died in the past year. There were readings by Laura Darby and Mary Colbert, and the congregation was addressed after the Gospel by Paddy McNamara.

As ever, there was hospitality after the event at the Galway Bay Hotel courtesy of swimming group member Dan Murphy.

Dr Colbert, himself a daily swimmer in Salthill for many years, addressed the congregation after Holy Communion.

“Looking around at us plunging into the Atlantic in mid-winter makes me wonder if George Bernard Shaw’s description of Ireland as an ‘open air lunatic asylum’ was somehow true,” he smiled.

“But then I see so many happy contented faces climbing out of the water and I am more than reassured of their sanity.”

Dr Colbert said the most important thing people get from their swimming is a sense of wellbeing, accomplishment and of caring for each other.

“Never have I met anyone who has regretted having had a swim.”

Men in particular were slow to talk about Love, Dr Colbert said.

But the “caring that swimmers give one another” was the face of Love, he said. “It’s the same Love that occurs in so many close-knit communities and gives us strength to face another day.”

Music for the liturgy was provided by Frankie Colohan and Carla Merrigan – and, not surprisingly, Galway Bay featured at the end of the Mass.

Other public representatives who attended were Minister Hildegarde Naughton, Senator Rónán Mullen, and Councillors Mary Hoade and Helen Ogbu.

Pictured: President Catherine Connolly pictured after the Annual Swimmers Mass in St. Mary’s Church, the Claddagh, last Saturday were Senator Rónán Mullen, Cllr Mary Hoade, Cllr Mike Cubbard, Mayor of Galway, Dr Dom Colbert, Cllr Helen Ogbu, Mary Colbert and Fr Matthew Farrell OP. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy