A COUNTY WEXFORD priest said his final Mass at the weekend, two weeks after he told parishioners that he was to leave the priesthood.Fr. Noel O'Brien, the Catholic Curate based in Templeudigan, told his congregation two weeks ago that he was to leave the priesthood out of a desire for companionship.
It is understood that he has applied for a special dispensation to get married and it has been reported that he is to fly to Florida to wed.
Local parishioners filed into St. Mary and St. Lawrence's Church on Sunday morning at 11.30 a.m. for Fr. O'Brien's final Mass in Templeudigan.
Towards the end of the ceremony, Joe O'Connor, the Chairperson of the Parish Council, made a special presentation to Fr. O'Brien on behalf of the Parish.
The presentation was met with rapturous applause from the near-full church and a clearly humbled Fr. O'Brien thanked the congregation for their support and unrelenting kindness.
'I am very grateful to the many people who have visited me and wished me well. Your good wishes and gifts mean the world to me and are a great source of affirmation and a great memory to carry into the future,' he said.
He announced from the pulpit two weeks that he was to leave the priesthood as he wanted companionship in life, having found the priesthood lonely.
However, he would not be drawn on the subject and when contacted, he said that it was a ' very personal' issue and would not wish to comment further.
The former Missionary Priest arrived in the Diocese of Ferns in 2000, having worked on the missions with the Columban Order.
He was appointed by the Diocese as the Catholic Curate in Caim, where he was based until 2004, when he was reassigned to Burma.
After the one-year mission in Burma he was appointed as the CC in Templeudigan.
There is no indication yet that a permanent replacement has been found to step in to fill Fr. O'Brien's position.
'In January 2009 Fr. O'Brien said he was moving on, so any future plans he would discuss with his Order [the Columbans] not the Diocese.
He indicated that his time in Templeudigan was coming to an end,' said Fr. John Carroll, the Diocesan Communications Officer.
'If he was to be married in the Catholic Church he would have to submit himself for a process of dispensation, which is done through the Bishop or the Order. That would be sent off to Rome where the Pope would decide upon the application. We have received no application for dispensation nor have we been asked,' added Fr. Carroll.
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SV (3)
Yes, the priesthood is very often a very lonely life calling
ReplyDeleteIt's time our priests were allowed to marry - they ARE permitted in the Eastern Catholic Churches
I wish Fr O'Brien in his new vocation. Priesthood is one of those loneliest callings which, perhaps, in this day and age is not necessary.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Father and enjoy thew life to the fullest.
How3 sad to see another man abandon Christ and the Church. This should be greeted with great disappointment but also with love and compassion, not with misguided congratulations.
ReplyDeleteNoel O'Brien is a Columban colleague and a friend of mine.
ReplyDeleteI understood that when a priest announced he was leaving the priesthood he stopped celebrating Mass.
This is Noel's second time to leave the priesthood. He was readmitted some years ago.
'Anonymous 1', priests in the Eastern rites are not allowed to marry but those rites ordain some married men. However, all their bishops come from the ranks of the monks who, by definition, are celibate.
I find it disturbing that a parish council would use the Mass as an occasion to congratulate a priest for leaving the priesthood. Do families make a presentation at a family gathering to someone among them who decides, for whatever reason, good or bad, to divorce or separate?
Probably the biggest source of pain to me in my 41 years as a priest is the number of priests who have left, some of them close friends. I know that many other priests feel the pain of this too. Do parishioners who publicly congratulate those who leave, as has happened a number of times in Ireland, consider that?
I once interviewed a Jesuit priest here in the Philippines who spent most of his priestly ministry working with married couples and families. I asked him what the biggest problem in marriages here was. His answer: 'Loneliness'. I happened to interview Angela McNamara about a year after that and asked her the very same question about marriages in Ireland. Her answer: 'Loneliness'.
We priests don't have the corner on loneliness.
Fr Sean Coyle
Bacolod City
Philippines
PS. For the record, the Columbans, The Missionary Society of St Columban, are not an 'order' but a society of secular priests.