Bishop Ray Browne’s message on Diocesan Appoiintments
As the annual list of changes to diocesan appointments is published today I offer the following words of encouragement to all in the diocese.
This summer three of our priests retire after more than fifty years of service each. I pay tribute to their wonderful service to the diocese in every appointment in which they served. Each has continued to carry full responsibility for a parish right up to now. Heart-felt thanks, good health and every blessing to each of them in the years ahead.
This year sees the appointment of new chaplains both at Kerry General Hospital and at the Institute of Technology, Tralee. It is important that we continue these commitments. The availability of a priest to the Pastoral Care team at the hospital honours the importance of having a priest available to all the sick, especially those in the final days of life, or those who are seriously ill or facing major surgery. Our Chaplain at the I.T. Tralee is our only priest working fulltime with youth and young adults. In a real sense the student community at the I.T. are a parish deserving of our care. I congratulate those who have completed the Youth Pastoral Ministry Course and the Kerry Diocesan Youth Service who recently published their 2015-2018 strategic plan, ‘Brighter Futures Together’. Our youth and young adults are vital in the Church.
Sadly this year, owing to the decrease in numbers of priests there will be two less priests working in parish ministry. In one situation a parish will be without a resident priest, in the other without a curate. The priests of the Pastoral area, the Pastoral Area Council and the team from the Diocesan Pastoral Centre will work with the communities of these parishes to ensure that they continue to have the fullness of parish life. Overall this year there are a good number of changes, all seeking to best provide for the whole life of the diocese. I thank our priests for their willingness to uproot and take on new appointments in the interests of the common good of the diocese. I welcome Fr Piotr Delimat from Poland who came to work in the diocese last February.
I am full of admiration for all our parishes and our priests. For many years now our priests have been greatly challenged to find ways of coping with the extra workload involved in having less and less priests, and then to adjust their lives to the full implications of these new ways. At every stage they are supported by the thousands of people in our diocese who are whole-heartedly involved in their own parish and many at Pastoral Area and diocesan level as well.
Look around and see all that is good in our parishes; there is much to give us confidence for the challenges that lie ahead. Please keep in your prayers our four students for the priesthood in Maynooth College and any young men who feel that it may be their own calling in life too. The year ahead has been proclaimed by Pope Francis as a Jubilee Year of Mercy. God’s Mercy is there for each one of us. In the year ahead may we all experience and live that Mercy. The rich depths of the Mercy of God the Father is proclaimed in Jesus words: “Go home to your friends, and thell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you”. Mk 5:19
Bishop Ray Browne July 1st 2015
Bishop Ray Browne wishes to announce the following changes of appointment of clergy of the Diocese of Kerry:
Retirements:
Fr. Brendan Harrington, PP Fossa
Fr. Patrick McCarthy, PP Ballydesmond
Fr. John Shanahan, PP Valentia
Appointments:
Fr. Tom Looney, PP Dingle to become PP Fossa.
Fr. John Lucid PP Moyvane to become PP Kilcummin.
Fr. Fergal Ryan, PP Caherdaniel, to be PP Beaufort.
Fr. John Buckley, PP Annascaul to become PP Killeentierna.
Fr. Joseph Begley, PP Kilcummin to become PP Dingle.
Fr. Joseph Tarrant to become Administrator, Ballydesmond.
Fr. Kieran O’Sullivan, PP Adrigole to be PP Glenbeigh.
Fr. Donal O’Neill on sabbatical.
Fr. Kevin Sullivan, Chaplain IT Tralee to become PP Milltown.
Fr. Nicholas Flynn PP Killeentierna to become Diocesan Secretary.
Fr. John Kerin, PP Waterville, to be PP Tuosist.
Fr. Martin Sheehan, PP Tuosist, to be PP Caherdaniel.
Fr. Donal O’Connor, PP Beaufort to become Chaplain, IT Tralee.
Fr. Jerry Keane, PP Glenbeigh to become PP Annascaul.
Fr. Gerard O’Leary, PP Milltown to become Chaplain, Kerry General Hospital.
Fr. Kevin McNamara, CC, Rathmore (Gneeveguilla) to be PP Moyvane.
Fr. Gerard Finucane, CC, St. John’s Tralee, Tralee to be PP Waterville.
Fr. Martin Spillane, Chaplain, Kerry General Hospital, to be Administrator, Adrigole.
Fr. Piotr Delimat (Archdiocese of Kraków) to be CC, St. John’s, Tralee.
Following the retirement of Fr. Shanahan PP, the parish of Valentia will be served by the priests of the Iveragh Pastoral Area, with Fr. Larry Kelly as Moderator.
These changes will become effective on Wednesday, July 22nd 2015.
Donal O’Neill (Rev.)
Diocesan Secretary