Last weekend, the Parish Pastoral Council of Tullow, spent some time at each Eucharistic celebration reflecting on the year of the priest that is now coming to a close. In line with this reflection, we also reflected on each one’s call as baptised Christians.
While recognising that our faith may have been dealt a severe blow by what we have heard about child abuse at the hands of some priests, we also know that our diocese and our parish have had the opportunity to come to terms with what has taken place through the meetings in the diocese and in our parish. It was pointed out that there are Rules for Safeguarding Children in every part of the parish and the diocese is 100% compliant with these policies.
We recalled that the ministry of priests comes from their answer to God’s call: to service, to a life of holiness, to the service of others, to a life of celibacy and to obedience.
We all need the prayerful support of others in our lives and priests are no exception. Since we all make up the parish of Tullow, Grange and Ardattin, we must try, together, to make this parish the best we possibly can. It is a case of all together, priests and people, moving forward to help one another in whatever way we can. We, as parishioners, are called to be involved, so that together we can face the future with confidence. We are challenged by the washing of the disciples’ feet to place ourselves at the service of others and for most of us, our daily living means going to work, bringing the children to school, calling in to say hello to our neighbour, checking on a friend and many other such calls on our time.
By being faithful to our call, we serve as Christ did. This is the church that, together, we need to build – a church that calls us to witness to Christ in our local communities. We need to work together, priests and laity alike, women and men alike, at the decision-making and planning of the church in order to build one that is open, loving and safe. We must each struggle to repair and heal the relationships that bind us together as sisters and brothers in Christ.
We are grateful to our priests for drawing us together in worship, visiting our homes, comforting us in sickness, blessing our marriages, baptising our children supporting us in bereavement, helping us grow in faith. God trusts us with making him known, by our words and actions. We can learn to trust one another, and believe that God blesses us with many beautiful gifts. We are blessed in our parish to have priests of the calibre of Monsignor Brendan Byrne and Fr Andy Leahy who are so dedicated in their ministry to all of us.
