Three Wexford priests serve as army chaplains
IT may be a shared sense of adventure or something in the water, but three Wexford-born priests are serving as chaplains to the Irish Defence Forces, one is a former soldier, one a former Royal Marine and the third has served with Irish forces in some of the most volatile countries on the planet.
Fr Pat Mernagh became County Wexford’s first army chaplain 12 years ago, and last year Fr David Murphy and Fr Brian Whelan, who had previously served as a chaplain to the British Royal Marines, followed in his footsteps.
On Wednesday, Fr Pat is heading for the Golan Heights for the next six months serving with Irish forces as part of the UNDOF mission, established in 1974 following the agreed disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces on the Heights after the end of the Yom Kippur War.
Fr Pat, the son of Jim Mernagh and Eileen (nee Buttle), is based at the Quay Barracks, in Dublin, has already served as an army chaplain in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Chad and Lebanon.
Asked why he had chosen the path of becoming a chaplain, he said he saw it as a new challenge.
‘I spoke to an army chaplain at a funeral he asked me “would you ever be interested?” I replied not in a month of Sundays, but I thought about it afterwards and realised this would be a good option.
‘I have never regretted it and appreciate the real honesty you get in the defence forces.. I call it a plus, you have to journey with people in the good and bad times,’ said Fr Pat.
He went into the seminary from St Peter’s School and was ordained in June, 1992, working as priest in Bride Street and Rowe Street Churches until he joined up as a chaplain,
Asked how he feels about operating in conflict zones, wearing a uniform, but not carrying a weapon, he said ‘it tests your faith’.
‘You trust all the team you have. People don’t get the chance to see all the training our guys and girls do - you are not going to go into situations you can’t get out of and have to trust in the leadership capabilites of the commanding officer and their staff.
‘As a chaplain you are trained to be a leader in a different sense. I might not carry a gun but I do carry a sense of responsibility to get a guy or a girl through a bad patch.
‘A chaplain always assumes the rank of the person he or she is talking to. You are on first name terms and it what makes the ministry so special,’ he said.
Fr Pat said that Ireland was fortunate in that it is one of the few countries which does not assign military ranks to its army chaplains and that was a major benefit whether you were talking to a colonel or a corporal, always on equal terms.
Fr David and Fr Brian are the diocese’s newest recruits to the army chapaincy, although both had previous experience in the military.
‘At the moment I’m based at the military barracks in Galway; in May I’m moving to Gormanston army camp and in November I’m moving to Limerick to do some duties there,’ said Fr David, who served for six years as a soldier in the defence forces.
‘In June of 1979, when I was 18, I joined the military barracks in Kilkenny and spent 17 weeks doing recruit training.. in September of that year the Pope came to Ireland and performed a youth mass in Galway. I was in the army and was picked out to present an oak sapling to him and had the privilege to meet him as a youth representative,’ said Fr David.
‘When I subsequently passed out as a private soldier I was stationed for three years in Kilkenny and for three years at the Curragh.. I left the army in June, 1985, and joined St Peter’s Seminary and was ordained a priest in June, 1991,’ said Fr David, who hails from Johnstown, Duncormick. Asked why so many Wexford priests were serving as chaplains, he replied: ‘ Maybe it’s something in the water or a sense of adventure.’
Fr Brian Whelan, left Wexford in August, 2015, to serve as a chaplain to the British Royal Marines and became a chaplain to the defence forces last year. He’s currently serving as chaplain at Sarsfield Barracks, in Limerick. A native of Blackwater, Fr Brian was ordained 12 years ago having studied in Maynooth and with the exception of a year spent ministering in Enniscorthy, he spent the rest of his nine years as a priest of the Diocese in Wexford town.