A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of saying a few words at a Mass marking the retirement of one of our priests. Having served in the parish of Charlestown for twenty-two years, Msgr Tommy Johnston, had arrived now at retirement and a packed church bore testimony to the difference he had made in the lives of countless people in that parish as well as the other parishes and schools since his ordination for our diocese in June 1972.
I first met Tommy in September 1976 when I entered St Nathy’s College as a first year. Later he taught me English or, as I like to say to him in public: “learned me English” to which he replies: “I never taught you that!” I felt at that time that I might be a priest someday so people like Tommy and his colleagues on the staff mattered to me. I suppose what I did not realise was how young he was at that time, maybe twenty-eight, but to a thirteen-year-old boy, he seemed so much older than I. Not anymore!!
Teacher
Though I might not remember much from class, I remember the teacher. My appreciation of the English Language was somewhat underdeveloped at that time and poetry and prose from Exploring English didn’t excite me too much. I always liked the stories though, the short stories between the covers of Exploring English 1. I can still hear Fr Pat Lynch, another of our teachers, read one of them to us in the early days of life in St Nathy’s. It was a story called ‘Janey Mary’ and told of a young, impoverished Dublin girl going for food to a local church where a priest named Fr Benedict was known for kindness. I can still hear the closing lines of the story. The little girl was barefoot and weak, the crowd standing in hope of some food was immense and a man in front of her stumbled backwards, crushing her feet with his hob-nailed boots. She awoke in the parlour with Fr Benedict and a Brother watching out for her awakening. When asked if the girl had been hurt, Fr Benedict replied to the Brother “Only her feet …. You can see the print of the nails.” I was moved by this and, though it’s almost fifty years since Pat read the story to us, I am thankful he read it.
Thankful to Tommy too and to others who encouraged me that what was at play in my heart and soul might find a voice and purpose. As he retires, and many more like him across the country, my thoughts are around gratitude for the difference these men have made in so many lives. I don’t recall Tommy or Pat or any of the priests in St Nathy’s speaking to me about priesthood and still without words they must have been influencers – that is such a common word, even profession now, being an ‘influencer’ but they seemed to do it without word or fuss. They seemed happy in themselves and made a real and lasting difference.
I mentioned at the Mass in Charlestown that a few weeks earlier I attended the funeral of a young boy. The front seats of the church were full of young men and women in their mid to late teens and as I looked at them on one side of the coffin and the boy’s family on the other, I shared their grief. I felt sadness too in feeling so much older than the young people grieving their friend. Tommy Johnston was still a young man in my teenage years (though I might not have fully realised that at the time) but how old many of us priests must seem to the teenagers and young adults of today. It makes for a more difficult effort to connect, to establish a bond … to influence. Though it may be more difficult, it remains a need and, please God we will find ways to do it.
I still have a few years ‘til retirement!
Redefining retirement
I noticed a card that someone sent to a friend who retired after a lifetime’s teaching. Wishing the retiree well, the card said there is no such thing as retirement …. The correct term is ‘Reinventment.’ I liked the enthusiasm and potential of that and wish well to all priests retiring this year. May you enjoy your ‘reinventment.’ (Yes Tommy, that is a word!!)