Ballyheigue ‘devastated’

‘DEVASTATION, sadness and anger’ characterise the response in Ballyheigue to the loss of its resident parish priest with one local politician suggesting the Church might need now to seriously consider the possibility of women and married priests.

Concern is meanwhile more pronounced in Ballyheigue as the loss of its priest sees the parish’s beloved cleric Fr Tom Leane leaving for Dromtarriffe in Co Cork.

“There’s devastation really, it’s going to make such a huge change” Fianna Fáil County Councillor John Lucid told The Kerryman.

“The loss of the priest will affect everything from weekday Masses, attended by up to 20 on a daily basis, to the monthly visits Fr Leane paid the elderly of the parish. For a lot of people, particularly the elderly, the Church is their life. It’s also tough losing someone like Fr Leane, who made such a huge difference to the parish. He completely refurbished the church, improved the grotto and was always there for everyone.”

Cllr Lucid said people appreciate the pressure the diocese is under trying to find priests. The three priests of the pastoral area were, meanwhile, to meet active laity in the Community Centre on Tuesday. “They have a huge workload now and the big fear people have is that that figure will reduce to two priests in time.

“There won’t be any solutions to the problem of few vocations without change. Maybe it’s time the Church should consider the options of allowing women priests or letting priests marry,” Cllr Lucid suggested.

Pastoral Director of the Kerry Diocese, Fr Ger Godley, has said that the introduction of foreign priests as one solution to the shortage of clerics might not prove a quick fix for the county, however. “I’ve been to Kenya before and they were fairly short of priests themselves. So while I welcome everyone who serves at our diocese, I think the idea that this is the solution could be misplaced.”

Fr Godley believes one solution would be in encouraging greater lay involvement.