04.03.2019
Powerscourt with Kilbride Welcome New Rector
The people of the parishes of Powerscourt with Kilbride turned out in force on Friday evening (March 1) to give a warm welcome to their new Rector. The Revd Cathy Hallissey was instituted by Archbishop Michael Jackson in St Patrick’s Church, Powerscourt.
Among the large congregation was Cathy’s family, her husband Eddie, daughters Lizzie and Claire and son Robert, many friends and well wishers including a large contingent from Taney Parish where Cathy served as Curate, and the principal and teachers from Powerscourt National School.
The preacher was Canon Fred Appelbe, who recently retired from the neighbouring parish of Rathmichael. He told parishioners that Cathy was a wife, a mum, a pastor and a graduate of the school of hard knocks and the proverbial university of life. She also possessed an innate wisdom, intuition and exploitative honest faith, he stated.
Canon Appelbe said that he and his counterparts who had served many years in ministry had noticed many changes in parish ministry in the last two decades. There were fewer callouts to hospitals and homes with people not expecting clergy to be present at every death. The institutional church had taken a beating from many angles and was often greeted with antipathy.
It was into this context that Cathy was landing as a Rector, he said and wondered what a rector was to do into the light of this reality. He said that while clergy were ordained to be purveyors of forgiveness, grace and to live prayerfully in the Spirit, they could also experience the guilt of wondering if they were doing enough. He urged Cathy’s new parishioners to be aware of this at a time of ‘great expectations’.
“Christianity is a faith of positivity and hope. And under pressure it becomes more real.
Psychologist Maureen Gaffney reckons that we need five positive inputs to every negative for good mental health. God help us… We worry. We are the first generation to cop on about Global Warming and be in a position to do something about it. That’s a problem, yes. But may I refer you to the line of a hymn written in 1871. ‘From thee all skill and science flow…’ For THEE in my book, read energy/intelligence/source/Creator, to which many give the designator ‘God’– evolution and control software programmed in flora, fauna and mother earth. – instinct and process – beyond our comprehension,” he said.
The evening continued with a reception after the service in the neighbouring Summerhill House Hotel. Principal of Powerscourt National School, Anna Ovington, welcomed Cathy and her family and presented Cathy with a bonsai tree as a symbol of growth and harmony between the parish and the school.
Speaking on behalf of the Catholic community in Enniskerry, Fr Bernard Kennedy, highlighted the focus on ecumenism which exists between Powerscourt with Kilbride and St Mary’s Parish in Enniskerry.
Eddie Hallissey said he was so proud of his wife who they had watched in amazement over the last eight years as she embarked on the journey which had led them to her institution. He spoke of her bravery and resolve and her dedication to pastoral care. He thanked parishioners for making them feel so welcome.
Cathy said they had been “borne on a wave of support over the last two weeks”. She thanked everyone who had helped make arrangements for her institution and all who had attended to the rectory and the grounds. “Looking at this magnificent parish I am reminded of the hands that cared for it before and we think of Archdeacon Ricky Rountree, the Revd Terry Lilburn and the Revd Niall Stratford,” she said. She thanked her family for their support and for uprooting themselves from Dundrum.
