The altar of St Mary’s Church in Drogheda, Co. Louth. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. I’m back from my sabbatical. On July 14, I left the glorious sun- shine of Victoria and was soak- ing up the glorious sunshine of Dublin the very next morning. And that wonderful weather con- tinued awhile, helping to ease me back into Ireland.
But into every life some (met- aphorical) rain must fall. I was hardly home ten days when I found myself facing an impos- sible Saturday schedule, with a wedding at 1pm, baptisms at 4pm and Vigil Mass at 6.30 pm. I baulked, and a kind colleague stood in. His covering the bap- tisms meant I could eat, pray and walk, and come to the Vigil Mass refreshed.
In case such events were to recur, I shared my anxieties with my colleagues, pointing out that the priest returning from sab- batical was not the same as the one who left. I had brought rose- coloured spectacles with me to Canada, thinking fewer priests could cover multiple parishes with ease. We can’t.
The people of Victoria pointed out the foolishness of my stance, especially when I told them of the five pastoral councils and the five finance committees we two pastors were covering. Living in my sabbatical diocese of Victoria BC, where lay leadership was the norm, I gained perspective on my situation. As result I’ve decided to hold back, and will attend just one pastoral council and one finance committee locally, mak- ing myself available as a con- sultant to any other that might benefit from (remote) support. It is time for lay parish leaders to learn the ropes.
I also shared with colleagues another decision I had come to, learned from a pastor at Victoria, whotookadayoffandadayfor writing on consecutive days each week. I will imitate that. I would like to provide more resources for people in ministry, while I still have the energy to do it.
One problem this causes is the loss of a weekday Mass I had been covering in a neighbouring parish. Our weekly schedule has been carefully constructed so that every church was assured of a weekday Mass as well as a Sun- day one. That can’t last. We have asked too little of parishioners. If we priests have to travel to par- ishes outside our own, shouldn’t those who live there travel some- times too?
My final suggestion to col- leagues was that instead of we three priests meeting and mak- ing decisions for our five par- ishes, we meet with at least one lay parishioner from each parish and share decision-making with this group. “Nothing about us without us”, to use the wise con- temporary dictum.
As I see it now, if the Irish Church is without strong lay local leadership, it will not continue at all. I’ll report here how I am get- ting on, and how those around me are adapting (you probably pity them?).
On another matter: I discov- ered why the cathedral is full for its main Sunday Mass, the impressive experience that led me to Victoria in the first place. I will share that here anon.
Song
Victoria’s cathedral hosted a con- cert this summer to display the talents of its pastoral team, dur- ing which I sang ‘Lady of Knock’, explaining the story of the appa- rition and Dana’s song beau- tifully describing it. YouTube reveals how popular that song is becoming, with an upbeat ver- sion being released last March as ‘Paloma’s Reel’ and with another outing during Mayo’s post-All- Ireland victory celebrations, thanks to ‘The Tumbling Pad- dies’. It’s strange that this song, which must be our most popular Irish-composed hymn, is rarely sung by church congregations. Maybe it’s something to reverse this August, as the Knock feast day draws near?
Reach
Last June, I dined with an Irish cousin in Vancouver, and his daughter and her English fiancé, who was raised Anglican but had very little faith now. The fiancé, who worked in banking, amazed me, however. His colleague had come across a copy of Pope Leo’s encyclical on artificial intelli- gence and off they went to the pub, to drink pints and study the encyclical. They found it a remarkable document and were enthralled in its critique of AI. Amazing how far our pope’s moral leadership can reach, in a world so much in want of it. [I must read it.]