Diocese of Ferns - Vocations

Fr Jimmy Moynihan is currently curate in Murrintown, Co. Wexford. Prior to this he worked for nine years as curate in Clonard - a busy urban parish. During his last year in that appointmenAt he wrote the following:

Ours is a large town parish, in it we have an estimated 2500 – 2800 homes. Clonard is unusual in the sense that most of the parish could be walked as it is made up mostly of housing estates on the edge of Wexford Town. There are three priests altogether serving in Clonard and each of us has a particular area of pastoral responsibility.

Within my area I have one of the two Primary Schools of which I am Chaplain and Chairman of the Board of Management. The school comprises of 580 pupils and 70 staff. It is within a designated disadvantages area, hence the number of staff. It also has an autistic unit for which I have responsibility.

In our church we have three masses each day – 7.30am, 10am and 7pm. In order to allow a day off for a colleague – or to allow them take up other Diocesan duties I may sometimes have to celebrate two or all three of these masses. IN addition to this there may also be parish funerals to be celebrated. We have four masses each Sunday and baptisms celebrated each weekend.

As well as being on duty or ‘on call’ for our parish we are also part of a team covering night duty in Wexford General Hospital which means that we take over responsibility for a week of nights. As the summer approaches each year wedding season sets in and I may have to celebrate ten or more weddings over the summer months. I am also Diocesan Chaplain to the Girl Guides which entails celebrating masses for them at summer camps and investitures.

This is just a synopsis of work that I am involved in and things for which I have responsibility. I find great fulfilment in what I do – it may be the work described above or visiting the hospital or nursing homes in the surrounding areas or visiting the homes of the sick and housebound or those recently bereaved. School does take up a lot of time but when I look beyond the ‘red tape’ work I get great fulfilment from working with the staff and the children especially the sacramental classes – those preparing for 1 Communion and Confirmation.

We run a parish based programme for both schools with liturgies being celebrated at the weekends in the lead up to both sacraments. As a parish we invest a great deal of time, energy and resources into people. All of our Parish Pastoral Council have undergone a course paid for by the parish and we have at present three young people from Notre Dame University working with us in the area of music and liturgy in schools. It is hoped to expand this venture and also to take in a parish sister.
I find it a most challenging, healthy place to work with wonderful supportative people who radiate a wonderful sense of community spirit. Each day brings a new adventure and a wonderful opportunity to know and see God more clearly.

It has been a tremendous privilege to date to be a priest. It has been challenging, tough and lonely at times but after almost twenty two years as a priest I wouldn’t change a thing.