The Quotations, Sayings and Words of Wisdom of Fr James McDyer was launched at the Folk Village in Glencolumbcille, which was one of the enterprises established by the energetic cleric in the 1960s to boost tourism and arrest emigration in his remote parish.
The book was launched by Fr Eddie Gallagher, who recalled memories of working as one of Fr McDyer’s colleagues. He said that when appointed to Glencolumbcille in 1951, he found that its economy was depressed and as a result, its parishioners were depressed and he developed a number of initiatives to engender hope in the community.
These sought mainly to promote a spirit of self-help and mutual help and the launching of small community-based enterprises. His emphasis on the financial welfare of his parishioners made a number of older priests uncomfortable, Fr Gallagher recalled.
He also hated red tape and was fearless in making the establishment feel uncomfortable and falling foul of the authorities if the advancement of his projects was being frustrated.
Fr McDyer believed that if economic decline in rural areas like west Donegal was to be checked, the pervasive greedy practices of a help yourself philosophy had to be replaced by self-help solutions found for the community as a whole.
Fr Gallagher said Fr McDyer also had an honours English degree while in Maynooth and said it was fitting that this fine book of his most memorable sayings was now in print to preserve them for posterity.
The book’s author, Mr Liam McGinley, said Fr McDyer was brilliant in his use of language and this was why he decided to collect some quotations from him.
The main McDyer philosophy was, he said, that no matter how big the obstacles confronting people, they could be overcome by cleverness, co-operation and hard work.
Mr McGinley said people today needed inspiration and he believed the words of Fr James McDyer were more relevant today than they ever were as people struggle for answers.