Forgiveness after the fact
Fr Andrew O'Sullivan leaves Kilcullen on 9 July to spend three years studying Canon Law in Rome. Nobody can doubt that his impact in the parish has been considerable, and he leaves us in much better shape than he found us. On behalf of all, the Diary wishes him Godspeed.
The first impression wasn't a good one.
"There was a crowd of men on the footpath, beating the lard out of one another," he recalls. "And I had just been saying to my friends that I was coming to a nice quiet country idyll."
The lights changed and they drove past the fracas, quite bemused. "Then I saw the church, and we got out and peeked inside. I was so relieved, because to me it is all about the church, and what I saw was an absolute gem."
For his first five years as a priest, Fr Andrew had been the junior curate in Crumlin Parish. With 30,000 parishioners, 72 masses a week, and sometimes up to 25 funerals in that same time, it was in his own words 'a huge operation'. "I was there with five other men, all in their seventies and in varying degrees of poor health. I ended up very quickly running the place."
His Parish Priest in Crumlin had a reputation for 'not being the easiest', but in fact the two got on famously well. "He was wise, and gave me just enough rope to make my mistakes; but he also gave me freedom to get on with it."
The workload was enormous, and though he describes Crumlin as a 'wonderful' place which he enjoyed immensely, it took its toll on the young curate, and he himself fell into bad health. In addition, a new PP had been appointed, and the two did not hit it off. The issue may have been Fr Andrew's established reputation and the new man wanting to make his mark as the boss, but it came as a shock.
"It was a turning point in my understanding of the priesthood and I became quite wise after that in the dynamics of some of my brothers. We are only human, after all."
His subsequent first conversation with Fr Supple, PP of Kilcullen at the time of his arrival here, he recalls as one 'where the different generations showed themselves'. But it was cordial, and set a benchmark for the coming years.
There were a number of very immediate things to deal with, such as the poor state of the Parochial House, where there was water coming down the walls and the carpets were soggy. As far as the new curate was concerned, the place 'wasn't suitable for human living'. The house dates to around 1885 and was, to put it kindly, in serious need of attention. It was also an indicator of what other problems might be waiting."When I went to say my first mass in Gormanstown, I found there were buckets placed around the church to catch rain coming in through the roof. Back in the parish church itself there were also problems; the gutters needed attention, the windows required repointing, the doors wanted fixing." In addition, the place was 'gloomy'. The lights weren't being switched on, the heating wasn't being used enough. People were actually cold in the church.
"That was reflected in the mass attendance, and it was another shock to my system. I had come from a parish where the church seated 2,000 and masses were always full. In Kilcullen I was rendered almost speechless during my first weekend at how few people were in the church."
Fr Andrew simply couldn't understand it. He had heard great things about Kilcullen, and yet he saw what appeared to be 'a community on its knees'. "A couple of months after I arrived one of the bishops asked how I was getting on? I told him it was as if Kilcullen had been padlocked, and everyone had gone away."
But in the way that most people now know him, Fr Andrew got down to dealing with matters. His first move was to go out and mix with the local people. He listened to them very attentively, and soon had identified various problematic situations. As he'd already found, Gormanstown Church and the Parochial House were among them. The excuse was that the Parish had no money.
"There was a lot of goodwill. And there were lots of meetings, but they were going on roundabouts rather than dealing with things. I very quickly made it clear that I was prepared to lead, but others would have to follow."
Gormanstown was fixed. The Parochial House was made habitable. Work was done on the Parish Church. "They were carried out so well by such good people that the fundraising was relatively painless. And people were very generous."One relatively small project was the widening of the church gates, following a comment by the late undertaker Des Byrne that hearses often found it difficult to swing in to the front. Fr Andrew decided that they should be widened, and that the work would be done while Fr Supple was on holidays. He neglected to tell his parish priest about it.
"On the basis that it is easier to seek forgiveness afterwards than ask for permission first, I had John Brady do the work while Fr Supple was away," he remembers with a grin. "And when he came back, it is said he almost wrote off the car as he swung in because the gateway wasn't the way he'd left it. Well, that's Kilcullen folklore." The following Sunday he couldn't help telling the people at mass that he was giving them every opportunity. "I've even widened the gates into Heaven," he quipped.
The highlight infrastructural work in Kilcullen during his time here has without doubt been the establishment of the Parish Centre, from the buildings which had comprised the original Girls School. They had been vandalised over the years and were in poor repair. "They were disgusting. I remember going to a meeting there and deciding that we'd never again meet in such squalid surroundings. I decided to close them down."
But what to do with the property? Well, a Parish Centre was very much on his agenda, but this would be a major project in all sorts of ways, not least in financial terms.
"There were many difficulties to be ironed out. But I had a wonderful Financial Committee in Noel Bergin, Nessa Dunlea, Philomena Griffin, Liam McDonnell, Evelyn McKenzie-Smith and others. They could have tripped me up, but they supported me instead, and so we went on."
Kilcullen Development Association pledged 100,000 euros, 65,000 euros were extracted from KELT after a long-running effort led by Noel Bergin, and there were a variety of fundraising efforts such as the Parish Draw. There proved to be enough financial commitment to get the project under way.
"We brought it in on budget," Fr Andrew recalls, "and within a year. Builder Tom Byrne did a fabulous job and we now have a Parish Centre that rivals any in the country." Nothing in building goes absolutely to schedule, though. Towards the end, when he was getting 'slightly exasperated, as a young fellow does', he told Tom Byrne that it had to be finished by a certain date as he was going to have President Mary McAleese open the facility. Which wasn't actually the case at the time.
"But then I thought, why not? So I rang the President, whom I knew, and I asked her and she was only delighted."
On 20 June 2004 he escorted President McAleese up the church, where she gave the First Reading and also read the Psalm. Later, outside the new centre, she spoke of 'radiators and drains' as akin to the choices people have in life, that they can either give off heat or not do much."The atmosphere that day is something that I will always take with me. It was another milestone for Kilcullen, the day the President came."
Over all his time in Kilcullen Fr Andrew has been closely in touch with the young people of the parish, through his chaplaincy to both Scoil Bhride NS and Cross & Passion College. The former, in facility terms, was to become a challenge. "I remember my first meeting on the Board of Management and being told there were six classrooms lying idle and what will we do? I asked them if they'd heard of Dublin? ... well, it's coming."
Though many didn't quite believe him at the time, come it did. In 2000 the school roll was around 200 pupils; today it is closer to 450.
"Now we have eight classrooms in prefabs, and that's going to continue to grow ... so we have serious difficulties in terms of the new pressures from the huge increase in population. Ensuring that we maintained our values was a lot of hard work, and the people I have to thank for that are the Principal, the teachers and the Board ... and it has been a fantastic experience."
His experiences as chaplain to CPC have also been very fulfilling. That was particularly evident at the recent graduation of the Class of 2007. "My whole relationship with the school has been phenomenal. A series of presentations the other day was very touching, in how they showed the impact we've made on each other over the seven years. It was very emotional, and I found that I wasn't the only one with tears in my eyes."That said, Fr Andrew is very concerned for the future of Kilcullen's youngsters. He emphasises first that 'they're great kids, they're absolutely marvellous'. But he believes an awful lot of them are without any sort of direction.
"We need to give them direction, we need to give them values, but these are not things that we can just tell them to do. It doesn't work that way. You've got to spend time with them, you've got to find out what is important for them ... and ensure there are things here for them other than binge drinking, dabbling with drugs, or walking the streets in a gang not knowing what to do."
Supporting the young people includes matters such as the provision of counselling services, and training of teachers in how to help their students. But in the end it does come down to the parents. "We need to encourage parents, to make sure that they feel they are supported by us in what they're doing. Sometimes they can feel isolated and on their own."
In reflection over his seven years here, Fr Andrew can remember a range of feelings about his relationship with Kilcullen. "When I came first I had heard about what a great community Kilcullen was. They spoke about the Capers, about the Carnival, but what I noticed very quickly was that it was all past tense. I felt adrift, because I couldn't connect. I thought it was absurd that they were talking about a bygone era, and nobody seemed to notice that things weren't going the way they should. So in the beginning I wouldn't describe myself as happy.
"But looking back now, I would say that I love Kilcullen, the urban-rural mix, the scenery. And Kilcullen has afforded me a richness in relationships, getting to know some people very well, young and old. I've always hoped to be a priest for all the people, rich, poor, small, tall, fat or whatever. I don't care what you are, whatever you want to be ... but at least we can talk. And that's been my golden rule, I talk to everybody and everybody talks to me."
He is particularly thankful for having known some 'extraordinary' people over the years who have now gone to God. "Wherever I may go, a lot of those people will always be with me. And in many ways that gives me a great inner strength."
Fr Andrew leaves Kilcullen with things remaining to be done, physically such as the painting of the church, and pastorally with the hope that a priority will be put on outreach to the people who live here. Further work is needed also on the integration of the many new people into an 'old' Kilcullen community that sometimes finds it difficult to accept them.
"At first these people in the new estates used to go away at weekends, back to where they'd come from, or anywhere else except Kilcullen. But now they're beginning to have children and are taking an interest in where they are, and that's going to happen much more over the next ten years. I think we're going to see huge changes in Kilcullen, for the better if we keep our eye on the ball and make sure that our community organisations are welcoming."
Behind him as he heads for Rome is a Parish Council up and running, a Finance Committee going from strength to strength, and the Bethany Group as an example of many other parish organisations which are yet to be developed. "My message was always that we are an inclusive church, whether you go to mass every day, or once a week or once a year. Whatever, you're welcome, and you have a contribution to make to the future of this parish."
A future that hopefully is a long way from that first sight of street mayhem outside The Weigh Room.
Brian Byrne.
