24.06.2024
Responding to God’s Call – Three New Priests Ordained in Dublin and Glendalough
Three people who have responded to God’s call were ordained to the priesthood in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, yesterday (Sunday June 23). The Revd Caroline Brennan was ordained to serve as Curate in Kilternan Parish. The Revd Mike Buchanan was ordained to serve as Curate in Rathfarnham Parish. The Revd Mathew McCauley was ordained to the Self–Supporting Ministry and will serve as Curate in St Bartholomew’s, Clyde Road.
The Service of Ordination was celebrated by Archbishop Michael Jackson and sung by the Cathedral Choir. It was the second celebration of new ministry of the weekend in Dublin and Glendalough as eight diocesan and parish readers were commissioned the previous evening. As with the previous evening, family, friends and parishioners filled Christ Church to support the newly ordained priests and they embarked on this new stage of their journeys.
Introducing the service, Archbishop Michael Jackson noted that ordination was done in consort with God’s people. “God has called Caroline, Mathew and Mike in a distinct way and my hope is that as they continue to respond to that call, the church will continue to support them, the parishes in which they will serve and their family members to have travelled this journey of faith, hope and love with them,” he said.
The sermon was preached by the Dean Dermot Dunne, who led the pre–ordination retreat the previous day. The Dean has just celebrated the 40th anniversary of his ordination and he said ministry was a great privilege. Referring to his own background, Dean Dunne said he was an Anglican by conviction rather than birth and the insights he had gained over the years reflected his experience.
He recounted a vivid memory of completing the last paper of the Leaving Certificate and going home to his mother, who was ironing shirts, to announce his intention to go to the Bishop in Cobh to discuss entering the priesthood. His mother had to throw away the shirt which she burned in shock. She encouraged him to experience life before entering the seminary. He recalled his conversation with the then Bishop of Cloyne, Bishop John Ahern who asked why he wanted to be a priest and told him that being a priest would never make him rich.
“I had an intense sense of being called to be a priest. I couldn’t explain it but I knew it was there and I had to follow that subtle call to come and see,” he said adding that later in his ministry he was to embrace the diocesan Come&C programme.
Dean Dunne said that each priest had their own story to tell about how they came to be ordained. “Each is a unique story but each shares one common theme and that is the call by God to live a life dedicated to him in the sacred priesthood of Christ. We all share that priesthood. But the ordained are called to live a priesthood that is outward driven and dedicated completely to the service of God sharing his ministry among his people,” he said.
He explained that the priest serves the community but is not of the community. The focus of those who are ordained is to preach the good news, heal the sick, to bind up the broken hearted and to set the captives free. He added that the priesthood is not a nine to five job but rather a dedication to the mission of Christ lived out in the community. It demands a full commitment of living out the Gospels among people who he or she is called to serve. He said that the priest was an ordinary person and it was through the humanity of the priest that God meets his people.
The Dean also said that the ordination of priests was not just a ceremony but a profound commitment to serve God and his people with love, humility and dedication. He added that Caroline, Mike and Mathew were embarking on a shared journey rooted in a community of faith.
Without wanting to be presumptuous, he said he hoped that if he meets Bishop John Ahern again in heaven, he could challenge him in his opinion that he would never be rich being a priest. “I have received riches beyond measure being a priest. Riches that neither moth nor rust destroy or that thieves do not break in and steal,” he concluded.
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