Thrilled Alan to meet Pope at day centre
NEW ROSS man Alan Bailey will be afforded an audience with Pope Francis when he visits the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin - which Alan manages - this Saturday.
Alan, 67, first volunteered at the Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless People in Dublin in 1972, three years after it was opened by Cork Capuchin Friar Kevin Crowley. He got involved in the day centre while working as a garda in Bridewell Garda Station and was on the centre’s board of management for 20 years – during a time when he worked separately on a special national cold cases unit as a detective.
80 children, parents and service users who avail of the day centre’s services will get to meet the pontiff when he visits on Saturday at the centre located on Arran Quay. Alan, from Charlton Hill, said he feels very privileged and honoured to be able to host Pope Francis, the former archbishop of Buenos Aires, who is the first pontiff to take his name from St Francis of Assisi who lived an ascetic life of poverty.
Alan said: ‘We are all very excited about it. We see it as an honour. There was a rumour going back to January or February and it was only confirmed a few months later. We were sworn to secrecy.’
Describing the honour as a mark of recognition of the centre’s service users and staff, Alan said: ‘We will bring 80 of our clients to meet the Pope at a private meeting. He will meet each and every one of them and will be chatting with us. I feel it’s a huge honour and a huge privilige no matter what religion you are.’
‘One of his first actions as Pope was to open a day centre in the Vatican and that set the tone for his ministry.’
Pope Francis has been widely praised for rejecting much of the pomp and some of the privileges of the papacy and has frequently urged we should all ‘become a bit poorer’ advocating ‘a poor church for the poor’.
Alan said: ‘We are non-religious here. We have two religious ceremonies a year: one of November 1 for those who have died during the year. We have a very big attrition rate due to violence, poverty, hypothermia and various illnesses and we have another ceremony at Christmas.’
Alan leads a team of 27, with 100 volunteers offering their time and energy towards the cause.
The centre is state-of-the-art and has a canteen which can set 120 people, a children’s dining area, two medical rooms, bathrooms and shower facilities. Its staff feed up to 900 people with hot breakfasts and lunches daily. It costs €3.6m a year to run the centre which is funded largely through donations.
Alan said: ‘Our numbers have skyrocketed; tripled due to the the cost of living in Dublin. It is not unusual to see a working father attend the centre with his wife and children looking for food. We accommodate rough sleepers. Anyone high or drunk is not allowed in, but they are given food to take away.’
Alan is married to New Ross woman Thelma Ryan. He has three sisters living in County Wexford, Isobel Tubritt, Grace O’Mahoney and Donna Kehoe, living in Fethard-on-Sea and Enniscorthy.
The published crime author returns to County Wexford occasionally, but his busy work life at the Capuchin Day Centre means he spends most of his free time in Dublin with his family.