THERE’S NO-ONE HERE TO REPLACE ME IF I RETIRE
ONE priest has three churches under his responsibility and even has to take a ferry to get to one of them.
Fr Gearoid Walsh, 57, of west Cork, said if he were to retire there would be nobody to replace him.
He said: ‘If somebody gets sick or drops dead in the morning what happens?’
The priest said that ordinarily he says a vigil Mass in one of the churches on the mainland on Saturday at 7.30pm. Then on Sunday he says Mass on Bere Island – a 15minute ferry journey away – at 10am and travels back to Castletownbere for another service at 11.30am.
On some occasions Fr Walsh could have two Masses on Saturday and three services on a Sunday. He said: ‘You have to get on with it.’
Fr Walsh said: ‘I had a Leaving Cert reunion [recently]. And of course I had no choice but to go home when the thing was over to be ready to take the boat to Bere Island on Sunday morning.
‘That was our first time together in 40 years and I had to come home early.
‘If you want to get away for anything it can be extremely difficult.’
Fr Walsh said the three churches are part of one parish, and comprised Bere Island, Castletownbere and Rossmacowen.
But the neighbouring parish has no resident priest and this complicates matters further as Fr Walsh occasionally will need to say Mass there too. The journey to that parish is a 40-kilometre round trip.
Across the three churches there are about 600 to 700 worshippers who attend the services in all.
Asked about the decline in voca- tions, Fr Walsh said: ‘There’s the question of whatever perception younger people have of the priesthood. You probably have to ask young lads why they are not interested in becoming priests.’