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Back by popular demand: The Musical On A Wing and A Prayer Show is to be performed again at the Royal Theatre in Castlebar on Jan 20th, 21st & 22nd at 8pm nightly. Again, the proceeds are in aid of Mayo Roscommon Hospice. The extraordinary story of the life and times of the late Monsignor James Horan, builder of Knock Airport, is to be retold later this year when ‘On A Wing and a Prayer-The Musical’ takes to the stage for its premiere at the Royal Theatre, Castlebar.
Author Terry Reilly, who wrote the best-selling book On A Wing and a Prayer, has adapted the work for a stage production that will bring to life the many great undertakings and amazing achievements of Monsignor Horan, told in word and song.
Proceeds from the January shows will go to the Mayo/Roscommon Hospice which
must raise in excess of 1 million euro each year through donations and fundraising efforts to maintain its palliative care service in the two counties. Monsignor Horan transformed Knock Shrine into the country's major pilgrimage attraction by building up a range of amenities and erecting a major Basilica, and he was instrumental in bringing, in 1979, Pope Paul 2 to mark the Centenary of the Apparition.
His last great fight, his biggest and most controversial campaign by far, was when he started, at the age of 70, to build an international airport in 1981 on what was described as 'a foggy, boggy hill'. His reason for the airport was to provide badly needed infrastructure for an impoverished, neglected region. Initially Government blessed his enterprise, but then did a series of U-turns as the tide of Dublin 4 opinion turned, forcing the withdrawal of Exchequer support and leaving an ageing parish priest to raise many millions to finish his final project.
He succeeded in opening his dream airport in 1986, but the effort hastened his demise and he passed away in Lourdes a few months later. Ironically, his coffin was the first into Knock Airport as thousands flocked to pay homage to their hero. Of course, his vision, his dream, succeeded as he said it would.
In the interim millions of people have used the Airport, and countless jobs are being created in an area once known as the Black Triangle in East Mayo.
On A Wing and a Prayer- The Musical is a tribute to the heroic endeavor of an old man in a hurry. It also heralds the 100th anniversary of his birth to be celebrated in May 2011.
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