While the Pope may have started the trend for clerical ‘selfies’, hundreds of Irish people are now posting ‘novena selfies’ on Facebook and it's all thanks to one priest in Co Louth.

Fr Michael Cusack of the Redemptorist Church in Dundalk called on his parishioners to upload their 'novena selfies' and both young and old have responded in their droves.

A quick look through the said Facebook page shows that not only does Jesus feature in the self-portraits, but so too does Mickey Mouse and many other familiar children’s characters.

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This novel approach might explain why 10,000 people are attending daily, filling the Redemptorist Church at each of the nine daily novenas to St Gerard.

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The idea for the 'novena selfie' came from 27-year-old Matthew Cregan, a former technical director at the Gaiety Theatre who is now a student for the priesthood with the Redemptorists in Dundalk.

Matthew admitted: “I am addicted to Facebook,” and explained that “one of the themes for the novena this year is ‘The Church and the Streets’, and what better way to spread the gospel to the streets than through social media”.

The novena ends on Thursday and you can go to the Redemptorists Dundalk Facebook page for more details.