‘THE COMMUNITY HAVE ROWED IN BEHIND US’
IN PART FIVE OF OUR SERIES ON THE FERNS DIOCESE, WE HEAR HOW PRIESTS HAVE BEEN OVERWHELMED BY THE GENEROSITY OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN DONATING MONEY TO HELP SEE THEM THROUGH COVID-19 AND BEEN CHECKING IN ON THEM. DAVID LOOBY REPORTS
Fr Jim grew up in East Wall, Dublin, and has spent most of his priesthood working in urban settings.
Having been ordained from St Peter’s College he spent a year in Dublin prior to moving to provide cover in Ramsgrange for a few months.
He did a course in religious formation in Dublin, before returning to St Peter’s where he was dean of discipline. Following this he was appointed to the Wexford town parish.
‘People are the same no matter where you go; it’s all about how you interact with people and how they interact with you. We are all on the merry-goround, we were busy running around here and there and it was all very important in itself and all of a sudden we’ve stopped. It doesn’t matter if you believe in God or not, suddenly people are stopping to smell the roses and hear the bird song,’ he says.
Fr Jim acknowledged the pain and suffering people who have lost their and those who are unsure as to whether or not they can open their businesses, are going through during the current health crisis.
He said he has learned a lot about how resilient and good Wexford people are during his time in the county. He recalled working for over 27 years in Wexford alongside seven other priests.
‘I moved to Wexford and there was so much happening, you went from schools coming back after summer, into the opera festival, Christmas: Wexford was go, go go! I really enjoyed my time there and never saw myself as someone who would settle in the country. In Wexford there were eight of us when I started and three when I finished and that will probably go down to two.’
He said Bishop Brendan Comiskey and Bishop Denis Brennan were always very good with priests, saying there were opportunities given to move to different parishes. ‘It’s different now because when I was in Wexford there were more masses and you were running, here, there and everywhere. Even though I am here now in Ballindaggin, with two curacies in Caim and Kiltealy; each would have had their own priest, I have four masses at the weekend and morning masses on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.’
He said the role of the priest remains the same. ‘The structure of the liturgy is the same. I am fine with the workload.’
He said times will have to change for the church. ‘I am in my late fifties; put another ten years on me and the engine will start to slow down. I don’t know what the solution is. We have come from a mission where the priest did everything. He was the one people came to. They prayed and went home. Now people have a much greater sense of their parish and their own community.’
He said lay people comprise committees in parishes across the diocese, all of whom provide great help to priests. ‘People are very good. I have people who call here to drop off food and some people are putting money in envelopes and they are being dropped off.’
He said a virtual collection service was launched in Ferns in late April. ‘It was only set up last weekend. It’s for the income of the part. It came about after some people made enquiries that they wanted to contribute but couldn’t because they weren’t allowed out due to cocooning.’
People log on to the Ferns. ie website and click whichever parish they want to contribute to. ‘You can make a once off donation, or a weekly, monthly, annual payment through a credit or debit card to pay insurance and other bills like the ESB and any other expenses a parish might have.’
He said: ‘The role of the priest is very important. In Kiltealy and Caim they have no residential priests. When the last priest left it was like the post office closing. People were thinking “all of a sudden the priest is gone” and that was the final nail in the coffin.’
He said parishoners understand that there are less priests to go around. ‘People are very encouraging about that. They found it very difficult initially but now they are very understanding of it. Lay people are coming into their own roles. I see it in other parishes too; they are doing a lot more administrative work and that allows me to go in and do what I am ordained to do, namely celebrating the Eucharist with the people and to be with them in the good times for weddings and baptisms, Communions and Confirmations, and in the times of bereavement also. Funerals are tough on people because they can’t grieve in the way they normally would. Even though sometimes people are very elderly when they die, it’s the telling of the stories, how we remember people. It’s all part of the healing process.
‘Our role has always been a sacramental role; it was never to be overseeing big buildings and community halls. The community have rowed in behind us. As we get are getting older we will still be able to provide what we were ordained to do.’
A webcam installed in the church in Ballindaggin meant Fr Jim could celebrate Easter services for people not only in the locality but across the miles. ‘Everything that happens here people can tune in to. We had a funeral a month ago and relatives from Australia, Canada and England could see it. So yes technology can be useful but there is also the reality that they miss physically being here.
‘People are missing going to mass in Sunday and seeing their neighbours. People are fed up and locked in and people really miss the church which is more than just a building of bricks, it’s a communion, a community where people come together.’
Fr Jim said someone didn’t invent a lockdown up to drive us mad and annoy us. ‘This for your good and my good so I don’t infect you and you don’t infect me. By sticking to the medical advice we are saying to each other that I love you and you love me. It’s a way of showing how much I respect you.’
FR DENIS KELLY Screen
‘I am busy in a different way and in a very interesting way. I am a guy who wouldn’t be very techy but I joined Facebook. When I told my friends they were all taken aback!’ Ordained in
1983, Fr Denis has seen many changes in the diocese and in society over the intervening years and sees change as the one constant. ‘Today I do two masses on Facebook Live each week and I did the entire Easter services live. What I really like is when people are having a special moment to be able to celebrate that with dignity. We had two funerals last week and family members were cocooning and were abroad. They were able to watch it online and we got a lot of positive feedback.’
Fr Denis spent two years working in the House of Missions in Enniscorthy and worked over the following 35 years in a mixture of urban and rural parishes. ‘The pastoral relationship with people is still the same. The world has changed but people still smile at weddings, cry at funerals and rejoice at baptisms. The pastoral relationship is the same. There aren’t as many going to church as there were way back but still people connect with things in the same way in life’s important moments.’
For Fr Denis serving the people of his parish is a privilege. ‘Some professions like this one allow you into people’s lives. It’s a privilege and also a great responsibility. To have their confidence and trust; it’s one
of the great rewards.’
He said his was a lucky start in priesthood. ‘I was very lucky. I was sent to the Mission House. I was the youngest of seven or eight guys, living together. In my early years you would have had fun but I could seek the advice of more experienced priests and take the benefit of their wisdom. There was a continuity of experience so you could learn from not just the previous generation, but further back.
‘I was 24. Priests nowadays tend to be around ten years older when they’re ordained.’
Fr Denis said he is over three churches, but foresees a time when this will change. Having two very competent finance committees in the parish is a great assistance, he added.
‘They take a lot of work away from the priest. Before he would’ve just gone and done it. Now collaborative ministry means when I am saying mass I don’t have to worry about who is doing the readings, the Eucharistic ministers, the servers, it’s all done by a rota. Every parish has confirmation and communion and the parents’ groups help greatly with the preparation of masses.’
Speaking of the priest’s workload, he said: ‘In one way it’s a lot easier and in another way it’s a lot harder.’
He first experienced collaborative ministry in Enniscorthy. ‘It was my first experience of a parish pastoral committee. We have one here as well. There are very enthusiastic people who really want to help in both areas.’
He anticipates big change in how the diocese functions.
‘I think rationalisation happens in every walk of life as needs and realities change. I have five masses at the moment. I don’t anticipate that will go on forever. One because there won’t be a need for them and two, as I get older I won’t be able to do that many. Whether there are few or many [priests] we are always saying we will take care of people if there is an issue.’
Fr Denis said priests are there for people at their lowest and in their happiest moments. ‘People are really good to us in many ways.’
Broadcasting live from church could well continue when the lockdown is restricted, he added.
Fr Denis said the cluster arrangement with priests in Blackwater and Crossabeg works great. ‘We meet every four to five weeks for a cup of tea, a nice chat or some dinner, especially coming up to the two major events: Christmas and Easter.’
When asked if being a priest is a solitary role, he said: ‘The first time I have ever felt solitary has been the past five weeks. Usually we can get out and do our thing. Some guys like sports; I like cards, especially 45 and I’ve started learning bridge. Like anyone in society you could live in a house with 15 people and be lonely; you make your own entertainment. I do think we are appreciated by the people who engage with us. I have always felt that when you have a vocation or the privilege of helping someone that you are appreciated. It’s not that people thank you all the time as people have to get on with their lives.’
FR JIM KEHOE, Carrig on Bannow
Cocooning in his native Castledockrell, Fr Jim says he has led a privileged life as a priest, saying he never imagined when he was ordained in Rome in 1971 that he would be there for people at critical moments in their lives.
Bishop Donal Herlihy sent a 17-year-old Jim Kehoe to Rome to study to be a priest. The year was 1965 and he suddenly found himself in one of the world’s greatest cities, eating pasta, drinking wine and living a life filled with colour, surrounded by foreign accents and faces.
It was a far cry from St Peter’s College.
‘I was there for six years. After Vatican II (1962-1965) there were big changes going on in the Church. That was the time when the vernacular came to be used in Mass. Before that priests said Mass with their backs turned to people.’
Recalling that ‘beautiful’ period in his life, Fr Jim said: ‘I was eating cannelloni, fettuccine and drinking a bit of vino. I pitied the poor fellas in St Peter’s! I had a bit more freedom and taught some of the students English and they taught me Italian.’
He returned to Co Wexford after his ordination and served in Boolavogue, teaching Christian Doctrine in Enniscorthy Vocational School.
He later served in Ferns, Kiltealy and has been in Carrig-on-Bannow for 22 years.
Fr Jim said people are the same everywhere you go. ‘Maybe the faith has gone down a bit over the years but people are still great and are very cooperative, no matter what needs to be done. Years ago we put too much emphasis on going to mass. We even judged people’s faith on mass attendance. I’m from Castledockrell and there were eight families who never went to mass and yet they were fantastic neighbours.’
Describing cocooning as awful, Fr Jim (74) said he misses the freedom he enjoyed as a given up until mid-March. ‘Cocooning is so strange. The very word is terrible. You can’t go to hospital to visit the sick or to funerals, but people are very good. I have never had so many cards or messages. I hope to God this virus will go.’
He said the role of the priest in Irish society has changed dramatically. ‘Years ago you would be involved in different religious aspects of people’s lives. Today they still want a baptism celebrate and their wedding. We are there for them in times of great happiness and also in times of sadness and unfortunately in times of suicide also, which is very sad too. Before people put priests on a pedestal. The priest didn’t get up on the pedestal themselves.’
He is concerned that for many, God today is ‘only the God of the gap’, paraphrasing German philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. ‘People trust us a lot. It’s incredible the confidence they put in their priests. When I was starting out in 1971 I never thought I’d be listening to what I’ve heard but we had training in philosophy and psychiatry.’
He said change is needed within the Church, adding that embracing technology isn’t necessarily the answer. ‘What it is I don’t know. Even in the time of the Apostles the Lord sent them out to all of creation and the message has travelled since. That at a time when there was no technology. Maybe the Holy Spirit has been asleep for the last 30 years!’
Fr Jim said materialism has impacted church attendances. ‘People are more concerned about their three holidays a year.’
He said the loss of church basket income is not concerning him one bit.
‘I am lucky as I’ve a few bob in reserve and people have been extraordinarily good. I hope to God that will continue as many of them are losing their job.’