Change invites memories and hopes. I have ministered in Radharc na nOileán pastoral area and lived in Kildysart since 2012. That period in my life has now come to an end and I look forward to moving to Tradaree pastoral area, where I will live in Newmarket-on-Fergus. Moving punctuates the lives of diocesan priests and provokes reflection, causing us to look backwards as well as forwards. I am still at the stage of memories, no doubt my focus will move to the future before too long.
‘Jesus and his disciples made their way through Galilee’ were the opening words of the gospel reading on my final Sunday in my previous appointment. We all make our way as best we can through life. Everyone’s pathway is different and brings its own unique joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties. Each person finds his/her own pathway to happiness and holiness. At the conclusion of my time in Radharc na nOileán, I rejoice in the great many joys that I experienced during my twelve years there.
A priest of our diocese once said to me that the key to a happy and fruitful ministry is to love the people. Emerging from the sacristy and making eye contact with the people is to experience warmth and welcome. People are glad to have someone to lead them in prayer. Like every relationship, ministry is a two-way process. I have certainly felt supported and cared for by the people who make up our faith communities in Radharc na nOileán. I experienced great kindness and love in both the ordinary bits and pieces of life and ministry and in the more difficult moments. I am especially grateful for the goodness of people at the time of the sudden death of my sister, Gerardine on 17 October 2017. I recall returning to the presbytery to find that someone, often anonymously, had left a cake or perhaps an apple tart. Gestures of care and concern that lift us up.
Priests have precious contact with people at key moments in their lives. You see it especially in people’s eyes. The pride, delight and joy in the eyes of parents at the baptism of their children, the love, joy and hope in the shared gaze of couples on their wedding day, the happiness, energy and vibrance of children at First Holy Communion and Confirmation, and the love expressed through tears at times of bereavement are all beautiful, grace-filled expressions of our wonderful, mysterious humanity.
Priests receive much friendship and goodness. Ministry can never be a solitary or private activity. We are blessed to work and collaborate with so many people, all the while receiving and hopefully giving encouragement and inspiration. It is a source of strength and joy to walk and minister with other priests, volunteer pastoral workers, members of pastoral councils, finance councils, liturgy groups, secretaries, sacristans, teachers, boards of management, choirs, eucharistic ministers, readers, altar groups, community development, sports associations and so many others. It is life giving to spend time with bereaved families, engaged couples, teachers, parents preparing for their child’s baptism, first holy communion or confirmation planning a liturgy to celebrate and ask God’s grace at a milestone in their lives.
We live through a time of change. Not everybody plays an active role in our faith communities anymore. Some experienced great pain, are angry or feel excluded. Pope Francis invites us to go the margins. We rejoice in those who work to keep our faith communities alive and vibrant as places of welcome for all who come. We strive to view each other with the eyes of Christ seeing and celebrating the marvel at the heart of every human being and in the wonder of creation. Nevertheless, all indicators point to ever decreasing interest in spirituality. Our response requires both faith and courage.
The future is a foreign country. If our faith and our faith communities are to thrive or even survive, we need to move from exclusive leadership by priests to a synodal structure where everyone’s voice is heard and respected, from parishes to pastoral areas, from maintenance to mission, from observer to participant. To abandon the spiritual is to risk becoming lesser people lacking a sense of wonder and eternity. The spark of the divine is planted deep within each of us making the life of every human being precious and unique. Each of us reflects something of God’s perfection that the world would never have known had we not being created.
Our Church needs purification and re-structuring. As individuals, as families, as faith communities, as a diocese, we strive to fan into a flame the spark of faith. May the Lord continue to tenderly embrace each of us as we journey through life sustained by faith, hope and love.
Fr. Albert McDonnell, Chancellor of the Killaloe Diocese
Clare Champion Article, Friday 4th of October, 2024