by Vincent | Mar 16, 2016 | Reflections, Lent 2016
If it’s okay, I’m going to revisit and old post from a few years ago. It was a reflection on priesthood. At present we have no student for the priesthood in our diocese and have had one ordination, for the diocese, in thirteen years. On the eve of St Patrick’s Day, I’m wondering will the “voice (and ears) of the Irish” hear the “VOICE OF GOD” and respond to His call. Anyway, what follows hopefully says a bit around my own thoughts. Thanks for your patience. Stats tell me over 100 people a day are visiting this site, fewer than that, looking at the reflections so I’m not sure who’s reading or why but I am thankful to you …. God Bless! V
I was ordained in St. Patrick’s Church, Gurteen. From time to time I look at a video taken that day. Such changes have taken place. Many of them irreversible. People close to me who attended that day have died. Others for one reason or another weren’t there and it can never happen again. Certainly there are people I wish were there. (My parents have both died since I wrote this piece, R.I.P.) The video reminds me of how happy my mother was that day. Like me, with me and for me, she looked forward to it. My father said, with deep emotion welled in his throat “this is my happiest day ever”. I’m glad I gave him that. Certainly he always did his best for me. My brothers too, and family were with me and still are. Don’t always have the contact I’d like with all my nephews and nieces who were just babes in arms that day. Some of them weren’t born the day I was ordained but are a very central part of my life.
The video brought back faces of priests in our parish at the time – all dead now – Canon Paddy Towey, Fr James Flannery, Fr Charlie Doherty. Other men who were part of my life and regular visitors to the garage and kitchen at home, where coming to get the car serviced was often more social than mechanical! Dudley Filan, Martin McManus, Bishop Fergus, Michael Giblin, Gerry Horan (knew him first as a solicitor and then as a classmate in Maynooth – ordained Easter Sunday 2007), Francy Cawley, Dermot Nash – they, and so many more, gone to their Eternal Reward.
Gone too my Godfather and uncle John who said he was there for my baptism, Communion and Confirmation – seeing to it they were all properly done “You’ll agree”, he said “he’s now properly ordained too”. Mai Callaghan – my Godmother. Alfie and Mel Gallagher. My cousin Kathleen “Feather” Gallagher, Gerry Dwyer and so many others. May they rest in peace.
Gone too, my hair! Added weight and years make me wonder who’s the man in the video?? Gone too, perhaps saddest of all – some of the joy that was around priesthood. It’s not that I’m not joyful but things have changed so much. Paddy Towey spoke of there being more rejoicing in Heaven over ninety-nine ordinations than one and hoped there would be others. John Geelan was ordained a year later – my Cloonloo neighbour – Oliver McDonagh, another Cloonloo man was ordained the week before me. (Sadly Oliver died in January 2010 after a brave battle with illness, may he rest in peace.) Gerry Horan – the retired solicitor and widower from Mullaghroe was ordained a few months before us both. Four men from within a stone’s throw of each other ordained within months and none since. There was rejoicing in Gurteen, Cloonloo, Mullaghroe and Moygara – not ninety-nine admittedly but four. Why did the rejoicing stop? Paddy Towey’s prayer – what happened it?
I became a priest because I thought it was the best I could do with my life and somewhere, though there was never a dazzling light or booming voice, I felt God wanted me to do this. There were priests I admired who seemed to be good and decent people, well rounded, balanced, focused and at ease. To be like them seemed a not unattractive life choice. People like Charlie Doherty in Cloonloo, Tommy Johnston, Greg Hannan, Pat Lynch, Martin Jennings, Jimmy Colleran, Jim Finan – all in St. Nathy’s – Michael Giblin, Dudley Filan, John Walsh, John Doherty, Frank Gallagher and many more spoke to me of priesthood without ever saying a word. There was much to look up to and much to imitate. Didn’t Jesus say “do this in memory of me”?
Have I encouraged anyone to become a priest? Seemingly not. What am I missing? I really don’t know. Priesthood isn’t that attractive to most people now. There has been so much change through the years and of course priesthood became tragically and undeniably entangled in scandal and betrayal. Yet there were all the while, mighty priests – good men, decent men, rounded men. Good priests.
Have I been a good priest? I’ve tried. Not without failure or uncertainty and I know I’ve hurt people along the way. Never intentionally. I can honestly say that. I remember once visiting a dying priest who asked me for my blessing and I felt so guilty blessing him since, even in illness, he was a stronger and better priest than I and yet I blessed him. It was my calling to offer a blessing to a dying man. Even if worthiness wasn’t uppermost in my mind, God, I believe, would have wanted me to make the Sign of Calvary and offer the fullness of Paradise to one nearing his end.
I’ve tried to be a good priest – tried with varying degrees of success and failure but I’m glad to be a priest, even if I don’t always fully understand what it’s all about. Like I wish my mother and father hadn’t aged (and died) – like I wish I could talk to them both today, like I wish many of the absent friends weren’t absent with the passing of time, I wish I had done some things better, left others undone, prayed more, learned more, being more – but that’s all wishful thinking, reality is reality. There are many things in life – in priesthood – over which we are powerless. There are things we’d love to be different but their moment for being different may well have passed. Acceptance of reality, even flawed and frail reality may be as good as it can get.
I have met many people through priesthood and the vast majority of them enriched my life so much. Thankfully many of them became and remain my friends. I’ve had the chance to laugh with people and cry with people. The chance to celebrate and sympathise. The opportunity to teach and to learn. To heal and be healed. To forgive and be forgiven.
For now, almost twenty-nine years on, I’m glad to be a priest. I’d love if my gladness were evident enough to encourage someone to make Paddy Towey’s prayer – his wish and the need of our time – come through!
by Vincent | Jan 18, 2015 | General Interest, Reflections, Parish and Diocese, Religion
There was a fine crowd at Mass today in Kilmovee. Given the weather conditions and state of the roads, I had expected a small attendance. Fair play to people for making the effort to mark the “Sunday in every week”.
I hadn’t planned on speaking at all but plans don’t always …. go to plan:)
In recent weeks, I’ve been at a few meetings in the diocese where we spoke about vocations to the priesthood. One of the questions posed was when was the last ordination in our parishes. I’ve thought about that a bit. The last ordination in my home parish of Gurteen was in 1988. The last in the neighbouring parish of Ballymote, 1985 and in Ballaghaderreen, 1992. In the past twelve years we’ve had two ordinations in the diocese. In Kilmovee, where I now minister, the last ordination was in 1981.
Interestingly in Ballaghaderreen, it is on record that in almost 100 years of the Brothers’ School, 100 priests were ordained. I can think now of six men from Kilmovee Parish who are currently ministering as priests but, as mentioned, the last of them was ordained 34 years ago.
A woman in the parish told me she could recall eleven people from her village that were in Religious Life when she was a younger woman. How many villages could say that today?
Anyway, I found myself talking about this today at Mass. The readings of the day pointed towards the need to say a few words. The first reading and Gospel, in particular, spoke of calls received and shared. The boy Samuel, heard a call in the night and assumed it was Eli calling him. Twice he went to him but Eli assured Samuel that he had not called him. The third time this happened, the penny dropped for Eli, and he told the boy to go back and lie down. If the voice comes again, he told him, “say speak Lord, your servant is listening”. So it happened. Eli’s role in this call is central. Had he not a clear notion of God himself, he could scarcely have pointed Samuel towards the opening of the ear, mind and heart to God’s call.
Equally, in the Gospel passage, the Messiah is found through the question “Where do you live?” The response, “come and see” allowed space and time for the questioners to come to know the Lord and hear his call. Having heard it, they went about sharing it with others, among them Simon, instantly recognised by Jesus as “the rock” – the solid one on whom the church would be built. The call to Simon came from God but its origins were in the voice of known friends who wanted to share, with him, the call they’d encountered whilst spending time with the Lord – coming and seeing.
We all then have a role to play in vocations and in extending the range of the call to others. The call may not be to us but THROUGH us. What can we do to share this call with other people?
I mentioned today that I am almost fifty-two years old. It’s small consolation that I am still regarded as one of the younger priests in the diocese. When I was ordained, a man in his fifties seemed so old to me! I wondered did I look old to the children in the parish. I decided on an instant survey:) Turning to Seán who was serving Mass with his sister, I asked “Do I look young or old to you Seán?” He didn’t avoid the question or hesitate with his answer – “Old”, he said. Seán deserves to see a younger face before him. I’m happy to be here with Seán and hope that he, and others, can be happy about that too. The fact remains, nonetheless, that Seán needs a younger priest to journey with him. There’s over forty years of an age gap between he and I. That’s too much.
Do we need younger priests? I believe we do. There’s a feeling now that if a young man expresses an interest in priesthood, maybe in his Leaving Cert year, that he’d be advised to go out, experience life, get a degree or a trade and, if he still feels this way in a few years, come back and explore the possibility. I can see where this thinking comes from and has value but I have to question it. At this same stage in life, schools are asking students to focus their exam subjects around what they want to do in life. CAO forms are completed where students select, in order of preference, their chosen college and, by implication, chosen career. If a young boy or girl, aged 17 or 18, expressed an interest in medicine, pharmacy, the Gardaí, nursing, teaching, farming – nobody would say, go away for a few years and think about it. If it’s still what you want, then go for it. Why should priesthood or religious life be different?
Yes, it’s true of course, that these other professions don’t have attached a call to remain single for life. Needless to say, that is a serious consequence but maybe one that a person can grow into, explore and, if too much to deal with, re-assess over the years of training. It’s almost certain that most people beginning training in any other walk of life are doing so as single people. It’s during the years of study and discernment, they make decisions around relationships.
There has to be a place in our church for young people, like Samuel, hearing God’s call and there has to be a place too, for Eli (you and me) to help people hear that call.
![A thought and a tune (not necessarily related!)]()
by Vincent | Jan 22, 2012 | General Interest, Reflections, Parish and Diocese, Religion, Songs, Video Clips
This weekend’s gospel speaks of the calling of the first four disciples – all fishermen. I put a few lines on our parish bulletin this week about vocations and about our Parish Cluster. I suppose this came about as a result of a meeting we had among the priests of our cluster in recent weeks and of the diocese towards the end of last year. In both gatherings it was easy to see that the age profile of our priests is increasing and the number decreasing. Maybe today’s few lines came from that and a hope that God’s call to the four fishermen might be heard again ….
There’s been a poll running on our diocesan website for the past two weeks or so. The question posed is “When was the last priest ordained for the diocese of Achonry?” There are four options: 1998, 2003, 2006, 2010. The response hasn’t been massive but, so far, 25 people have responded. 12% think the last ordination was in 1998, 20% believe it was in 2006, 32% answered 2003 and 36% 2010. The correct answer is 2003. In other words 68% of those who responded to the poll were incorrect in their response and 32% were correct.
Was it about being right or wrong? No! The reason for the question was to perhaps make visitors to our diocesan site reflect on the length of time since a priest was ordained to serve within the diocese of Achonry. The answer – ten years. In those ten years a number of our priests have died. Some more have retired or ceased ministry.
In the cluster of parishes to which we align ourselves (Kiltimagh, Swinford, Bohola, Charlestown, Carracastle and Kilmovee) there are ten priests in parish ministry (three are aged 40-45, two aged 45-50, one aged 50-55, two aged 65-70, one aged 70-75 and one is over 75). In the coming years, allowing for retirements and other diocesan needs as well as unforeseeable circumstances it is certain the number of priests in this cluster will reduce. We have two students in Maynooth at present and that is good news!
There are twenty-five weekend Masses celebrated in this Parish Cluster – many of them at the same time. The weekend Mass is certainly meant to be the highpoint of a Parish’s Liturgical life and a vital cog in the sharing of the Gospel Message. It is a time of gathering, sharing, nourishing, healing, praying and of all that is good and necessary in the life of a Catholic Community. As we look at today’s age-profile of priests in this area it is certain that within a short number of years we will not be in a position to celebrate Masses at the present level. There will be need to re-align times with other parishes, to share priests between parishes and to make practical arrangements at parish level.
As the Lord calls Apostles to his side in this weekend’s Gospel passage, there remains of course the hope that the Spring may find its voice and that some from our diocese might again hear God’s call and join our two students on their “road to priesthood”. There can be no doubt but that He is calling priests to ministry in our diocese. Nine years is a long time …………. “Come follow me”!
Fr Gerry Horan
At Mass this morning (Kilmovee) I spoke of a classmate of mine who was ordained a few months before the rest of our class. He was Gerry Horan – a neighbour from home – who was ordained for the Diocese of Elphin. Gerry had been a solicitor for most of his life, was widowed and had two children. He was nearly 70 when he was ordained. As a young man he had joined the Passionist Order but left before ordination. Somehow this thought of priesthood had remained with him through his life. As I say, he was ordained a few months before the rest of us and worked until he died in Tibohine (Parish of Fairymount)
Gerry preached at Mass one evening when we were in Maynooth. I think it may have been the same Gospel passage we reflected on this weekend. He talked of being a young boy and fishing alongside a friend of his on the shores of Lough Gara. His friend caught a trout and Gerry told us he caught nothing. As they cycled back home to Mullaghroe, Gerry asked his friend how come he had caught a fish when Gerry wasn’t able to. His friend didn’t answer until they were nearly at home and then he told him “I prayed”. Gerry said he laughed at him but the friend insisted. “You asked me and I told you. I prayed. I said ‘Holy Ghost, direct me to catch a fish’. You asked me and I told you.”
Gerry told us that he was back at Lough Gara on his own the next morning. He said he sat in the same spot and prayed “Holy Ghost direct me to catch a fish” and, as if he could still feel the tug on the line, he smiled as he told us “I caught the two finest trout I ever caught in my life”. He continued, “I put them on my back, cycled home, was late for school, got six slaps but I didn’t give a damn! I had caught two fish and learned how to pray”!
He finished his few words that evening by telling us that in the Gospels the Lord seemed to have a great love for fishermen but not so much for lawyers. “Maybe”, he said “that’s why I think it’s time to become a fisherman again”.
This week we have mourned with the people of West Cork the loss of five fishermen from the local and Egyptian community. Our hearts go out to them and their families and all who live the life of the sea. Fishermen have great patience and an ability to see beneath the surface – knowing where to cast the net, drop the line, direct the boat ….. Someone once told me that quite often fishermen don’t learn to swim since they know the power of the sea and possibly the futility of struggle. They trust the outcome, even if we don’t fully see or understand it, will be in God’s hands.
Maybe that’s why Jesus chose fishermen. He knew they could and would depend on him. He knew they understood patience and the need for the right bait, the dropped line and hope!
As I say …. just a thought and, as it turns out, a memory of my neighbour and classmate, Fr Gerry Horan. With the fishermen of West Cork, may he rest in peace. Amen.
And now the tune! One of my favourites. We need to be able to see the Green, the black, the grey, the blue, the yellow and not just the colours but also their very many shades …..
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us4JJQmOmnQ]
