A WORD OF THANKS

1. On this special day in my priestly life and in the life of the Church in this parish I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to many people who have made the day possible.

Firstly, my thanks to Almighty God for his many blessings on me in my ministry over these last 50 years and throughout my life. “Praised be the Lord our God”!

2. I thank my family for their prayers and practical support over the years. No matter where I was, I was never too far away from them in any sense. They were never far from me. To all of them, in all the generations, I say Thanks and May God Bless you.

3. I welcome all of you here this evening and I thank you for coming. I welcome not only those from the parish and surrounding areas but those who have travelled long distances – from Mayo, Dublin, Cork and elsewhere. I thank those who have come from the parishes in which I worked – from Garrison and Belleek in Co Fermanagh, Clogher in Co Tyrone and from Clones and Muckno here in Co Monaghan.

4. To our Bishop, Most Reverend Joseph Duffy, for his support to me in my ministry here in Clontibret parish. I thank Bishop Duffy especially today for his very kind message which you will find printed at the front of your Mass Booklets.

5. To my brother priests of the Diocese of Clogher: I thank you all for your attendance here this evening and for con-celebrating this Eucharist of Thanksgiving. I thank you also for your brotherly help and support over these past 50 years.

6. To the priests from the parishes of Keady & Derrynoose and Tynan (or Middletown) in Armagh Archdiocese and those priests from Kilmore, Diocese, the Diocese of Meath, religious orders and elsewhere I say thanks for coming here to celebrate with me the goodness of the Lord.

7. In a special way I say thanks to my co-workers here in Clontibret. Fr Paudge McDonnell our Parish Priest, has been very supportive since he came here and I thank him for his fellowship. Unfortunately, he cannot be with us this evening. Fr Brendan Kieran has always carried the flag and never failed to give us all genuine guidance through his deep knowledge of the Scriptures. I thank you Fr Brendan for your loyalty and I hope that, together, we can continue our ministry in this part of the Lord’s vineyard for some years to come.

8. I welcome those clergy and others from other Christian denominations who join us here in brotherly fellowship – in the One Lord Jesus Christ. I welcome The Reverend David Nesbitt of the Presbyterian Church and I also welcome The Reverend Jonathan Heyhoe, Church of Ireland Rector of the Group Parishes of Muckno, Ballybay and Clontibret and his wife. I am truly delighted that you are here. This evening’s Gospel tells us of the Lord’s commitment to all his flock. Your presence reflects that.

9. I thank the choir and musicians for a truly uplifting experience this evening. Our Three Church choirs from St Michael’s here, St Mary’s in Clontibret and All Saints’ in Doohamlet, have once again come together to serve the Liturgy in a special way. They have put a lot of effort into the preparation and I thank them. I thank the organists- Gary Carville, Eilish Brennan and Ann Cumiskey for their music and also the other musicians as well. Thank you – you really inspire us!

10. I thank the Liturgy Group for the preparation of the Liturgy here this evening. Your work for the Church through the Liturgy itself is a real sign of a living and vibrant Church here in this parish. I thank also our Master of Ceremonies, Fr John Flanagan, Roslea, a native of our parish and all the altar servers and those who took part in the Liturgy.

11. I thank another native of the parish, Fr Paddy McGinn, Monaghan, for his moving Homily. Fr Paddy has once again lifted our minds and hearts to God by his preaching. Thank you, Fr Paddy!

12. I thank our Sacristans without whom nothing would happen in our three churches. Firstly, Lucy McKeown here in Annyalla. Lucy is still going strong, indeed stronger than ever, 21 years after my arrival in Annyalla. Her love of the church, her devotion to her duties are examples of what service in the name of the Lord is about. Thank you Lucy for all you help and for your support to me over the years.

The same can be said of Susan Lavelle in Doohamlet whose devotion to parish duties in every sense is uplifting for us all. Thank you Susan for all your work and for your help to me. Similarly, my thanks to Geraldine McSkane, the new Sacristan in St Mary’s. Geraldine has only taken up her post since February of this year and is doing a great job. Thank you Geraldine for your help to me too. Of course, I could not mention Sacristans without thinking of Jimmy Gorman, who for 14 years was Sacristan of St Mary’s. Today, I also thank Jimmy for his help to me and for his work for the parish, some aspects of which he is still engaged in. I also think this evening of Jimmy’s wife Dympna who was Sacristan for many years in St Mary’s also. May she rest in peace!

Thanks also to the Altar Societies. The Sanctuary here and the church generally this evening looks splendid. Thanks also to the Altar Societies in the other 2 churches and to the FAS workers who do such a good job outside the grounds both for today and always.

13. I thank the members of the newly elected Parish Finance Council, firstly for loosing the purse strings a little to cover some of the costs (!!) and also for acting as Ushers here this evening.

14. My thanks also to the three GAA clubs in the parish for overseeing the stewarding outside the church and at Doohamlet.

15. A special word of thanks to the members of St Macartan’s Pipe Band, Lisnagrieve who once again have turned out to add to the occasion. The Band celebrated its 75^th anniversary last year and they are still going strong, representing a means of recreation and cultural development for all young people of the area.

16. I thank Gary Carville for compiling and overseeing the production of the Mass Booklet which I hope will be a Souvenir of the events we celebrate here this evening. I thank also Castle Printing for the efficient manner in which the booklet was printed.

Organising Group:

17. Finally, this event, this Mass of Thanksgiving, would never have happened or would never been organised so well, were it not for a committee that just came together over a year ago for Fr Brendan’s Golden Jubilee and my Retirement and continued to work ahead for today’s celebration. I want to thank them all individually and collectively. I know that they have put in a lot of hours of work, a lot of telephone calls, a lot of letters sent etc. I thank them all most sincerely and assure you of my prayers and blessing.

The Convenor of the Group was Gary Carville

Mary Brannigan (Cashel) acted as Secretary and handled the invitation list returns (so her phone was busy lately).

Brendan Harris & Seamus Carroll, along with Mary Brannigan were in charge of the funds!

Susan Lavelle and Agnes Duffy, dedicated workers for the parish and the Doohamlet Hall Committee were on the committee as were the following-

Liam Corey, Maria Hughes

Ann Lavelle (Moys), Pat Brannigan

Delia Carroll, Geraldine Casey

Pat Murphy, Lucy McKeown, Ollie Carolan,

Kitty Greenan, Mary B O’Neill, Eileen Gormley,

Dette Brennan, Pauline Gilsenan, Genevieve McEneaney.

Mary McArdle, Majella McArdle, Ann Brennan and Ann Mulligan.

I also thank all those who went around houses last Autumn to collect for this event and my retirement and Fr Brendan’s Golden Jubilee also. I thank all who contributed.

18. Pope Benedict XVI has said:

“The Church is alive! The Church is young!”

How true his words are here this evening. The vibrancy of this celebration, the unity of purpose, the commitment of so many people, augurs well for the future of the Church here in Clontibret parish. It is important that we try to use occasions like this to impress and give emphasis to Christ’s message “You shall be my witnesses”.

How true that is, more so now than ever before in the history of the Church and the world.

I thank God for the gift of Priesthood and for allowing me to realise and live out my vocation as a priest; to proclaim the living presence of Christ, here in the Diocese of Clogher.

My prayer this day is one of thanks to God and one of Hope for the future. I pray that God will continue to bless his Church with vocations to the Priesthood and the Religious Life both now and in the future. I pray also that efforts towards the unity of Christians will progress further. I pray for the health and well being of all here and of all in this parish.