The Latin School, Moyne

We had a beautiful liturgy in St Marys Church Legga  on May 15Th 2010  for Fr Tom who died on the feast of our lady. This holy and saintly Priest brought great joy to the Church in Ireland and in England as well ,having spent some time in the Diocese Of Leeds. He was a few weeks off celebrating 70 years of Priesthood and what a memorial that is during this year of the Priesthood. He is buried on his home soil not far from the Latin school. Those of us including Fr Frank Grey who wrote its history heard Bishop Colm Reilly say that the focus of his life was on Mary and how he had a firm belief in the providence of God in our lives even the small events.He was never negative about life ;in fact refreshingly positive.He waited for death without fear and continued to carry out his pastoral duties from his bed at the Manor .It was an unique experience to go to him for Confession. Praised be to God for his Mercy and the wonderful gift of Priesthood in this great latin school pupil.I will miss his  comforting words and spiritual strength.He recalled his Family and brother Priests and always Thanked God for his many blessings.Referring to the Gospel passage when Mary became Mother of the Church the Bishop said all of us must welcome Mary truly into our lives as Fr Tom did evident by his ministry of the sick and celebration of the Sacrament of Penance over the years.He recalled his time with new converts at St Thomas More Sheffield and earlier times at Halifax and Bradford. “We are greatly indebted to Fr Tommy” and can be consoled by a line from the Book of the Apocalypse that states ……”they can rest forever after their work, since their good deeds go with  them”. At his funeral Mass the Mulligan sisters sang with their Mother. It was out of this world and captured the occasion with music and words that were out of eternity….the best ever as no words can describe it and alas I did not record it.

I was over in Cavan at the P.T.A.A dinner dance and I passed by the latin school . The beutiful shrine to Our Lady was lit up and pointed to the comforting presence of Mary in the life of her Apostolic School.Here was a place that many of its pupils heard the call to follow her son in the priesthood. It would be great if we had the roll call . However many of you know her children. Indeed I was talking to P:adraig Moynagh about his Uncle Bishop Moynagh who was a former pupil. What an inspiring source and comfort it is for us to reflect on the lives of these great missionaries and recall their contribution to the life of the church.Praised be to God .

This Month can be so difficult for so many of us and we must look forward to Easter and better days. I stood on the bank of the shannon and looked for sign of life and growth and  knew that the daffodil will not disappoint me or let me down…….”fair daffodils.         Happy Easter

It is hard for me to realize that I left the Latin school 40 years ago. I am very proud of that fact.Many of you are aware of a number of programs on the internet that allow us to communicate verbally,I sent links but I have got no response as someone may not understand my pseudonym as Icsaman . It is your scribe. call me there or on 0894277806.

I Ireland long ago Kevin Danaher wrote the following;” a small low hut,as inconspicuous as possible,was built in some place sheltered from view,and in it the hunted schoolmaster taught his class.There might be no door or window,just openings in the wall;there might not even be room to stand up inside…a poor hovel at best,so whenever it was not raining the master and his class sat under the shelter of a hedge out of doors.In winter there might be a fire around which the children took turns to sit,especially the smaller ones.Reading,writing and arithmetic were then as now regarded as the basis of schooling.The older children went on to algebra,geometry,rhetoric,Latin and Greek.Classical learning was highly regarded. I draw your attention to this as you know the Latin school grew from this background and from as painful period of our history. We too are also experiencing painful days of reckoning when shocking cases of child abuse by Irish Priests are in the Public domain. It has serious implications for many as we all share a burden of responsibility. Gone are the days of large number of vocations in Ireland.If you are one of the many moyne men in the priesthood I ask you to pray that our Church will be less earthy and more eternal and God will judge us with Mercy and be good to all the victims.

High visibility vests and gear speeds have replaced the older bike version familiar to the latin scholar. These journey etched in memory are and can be patrols of the imagination to borrow from the scribe John Mc Gahern. By the way for those of you are leitrim exiles have a read of some of the fine descriptions of your native county in his novels.Some of you will remember the noise of an industrious mouse searching your humble satchel for his lunch on a soft Plain of Cully’s or would that be a hard crust over a galtee or calvita added attraction.There were no yogurts ,calculators or computers then……How did we survive? If  you have mice as friends you must become familiar with the following masterpiece that I now share with having heard Seamus Heaney read it on Radio.

“I and Pangur Ban,my cat,

‘Tis a like task we are at;

Hunting mice is his delight,

Hunting words I sit all night.

Better far than praise of men

‘Tis to sit with book and pen;

Pangur bears me no ill will,
He too plies his simple skill.

‘ Tis a merry thing to see

At our tasks how glad are we,

When at home we sit and find

Entertainment to our mind.

Oftentimes a mouse will stray

In the hero Pangur’s way;

Oftentimes my keen thought set

Takes a meaning in its net

‘gainst the wall he sets his eye.

Full and fierce and sharp and sly;

‘ Gainst the wall of knowledgeI

All my little  wisdom try.

When a mouse darts from its den,

O how glad is pangur then!

O what gladness do I prove

When I solve the doubts I love!

So in peace our tasks we ply,

Pangur Ban,my cat and I:

In our arts we find our bliss,

I have mine and he has his.

Practice every day has made

Pangur perfect in his trade;

I get wisdom day and night

Turning darkness into light.

farming_in_leitrim

How are you all keeping ? I am back with lots of news and I want to direct you to a new website where you will find an excellent article on latin school in 1989 edition. it is the leitrim guardian website ……..so check it out. Did you know that Barney Cully opened his new factory in Arva. you will not equal his plain loaf…….life cannot be lived without it .Dan and myself will testify to that. Fr Tom’s book is a great read and James is a great Historian.

I met Fr Tom recently along with Fr Mark and Fr Daniel where all 3 rejoiced in their priesthood and prayed for priests. The Latter two had just returned from Knock where they prayed the Novena on the 130 th year of the Apparition and when you consider that Fr Tom is half that period a priest you begin to rejoice in the goodness of God to the people of Ireland. We also met Sr Mary a poor clare nun of 92 years praying the full breviary. I want to direct you to the website of Fr Mark at w.w.w vultus christi and be inspired. I travelled to St John ‘s College Waterford for the reunion thanks to the kindness of John Tuohy a famous Clogheen man beside the Abbbey of Our Lady. I will relate my thoughts soon.

Saintly Healing Priest Looks Back

Cover to book

Click on image to enlarge

Fr Tommy O’Reilly is very well known throughout these islands. Since his return to Ireland in 1979 from forty years’ ministry in the Diocese of Leeds, he has travelled the length and breadth of Ireland visiting sick people in hospitals or in their own homes. Many of these people have been returned to good physical health or have experienced inner healing through the prayers and blessing of this saintly man.
Fr Tommy is a native of Moyne in North Longford, a past pupil of the Latin School, a contemporary of Msgr John V Sheridan of Malibu, Ca, the last remaining of ten brothers, four of whom became priests and served in the US and England. For the past number of years he has been residing in Our Lady’s Manor, Edgeworthstown. He is now in his 94th year, having been ordained almost sixty-nine years ago, in 1940. After returning to Ireland from Leeds diocese following the sudden death of his younger brother Fr Brian, he ministered in Celbridge, Co Kildare and in Killoe and Athlone parishes.

Despite his advanced years, Fr O’Reilly enjoys relatively good health though confined to his wheelchair when going every morning to the oratory in the Manor Nursing Home. Here he concelebrates Mass with Fr Patrick Murphy, PP, Edgeworthstown and retired priests Canon Gerry Macaulay and Fr Peter Beglan. He is quite alert and his mind is clear. He has tremendous drive and energy, so much so that he wished to see in book form highlights of his long life. This book titled “To Do Your Will” was launched on Palm Sunday, April 5th 2009. It is quite a slim volume, beautifully and attractively produced with photographs of his parents and siblings and of the parish centre in Sheffield, which was his dream come true in 1969. The centre is dedicated to St Thomas More and consists of not only a church, but a social centre for the entire parish, catering for young and old. The banqueting hall is used for weddings and is a source of income for the parish. He is justifiably very proud of this wonderful achievement, which will remain a monument to him.

The book is based on interviews he gave over the past two or three years to Anne Gallagher, Jude Flynn and James MacNerney who is the editor. Fr Tommy’s reminiscences and memories are very poignant indeed but even more important to him is the spiritual message contained within the pages of the book. His very strong devotion to Our Lady of Medjurgorje is of prime importance to him. He wishes also to see a return to family prayer, just as it was in his youth when all the family knelt down to say the rosary. He says that children must be taught to pray and the best way to do this is to learn from the example of their parents who pray with them at some time during the day. Without prayer, vocations will become a thing of the past. The Church needs priests desperately, and young people need to be encouraged to devote their lives as priests and sisters to those who are crying out for guidance and support in this utterly changed, self-centred, dangerous world of drugs and violence.

Fr Tommy believes he was cured miraculously of double pneumonia in 2005 through the intervention of Pope John Paul II, who had just died. Doctors were unable to account for the disappearance overnight of any trace of the condition, which at his age of ninety was likely to prove fatal.

Since the book was launched by Ms Catherine Donohoe of The Legion of Mary, it has sold very well at home and abroad. At €5 it’s a steal and should be required reading for every home and school. Copies are being requested daily in the UK and USA. Fr Tommy is delighted and welcomes, as usual, the many visitors who phone or call to see him for his blessing and absolution. He never seems to tire. You can buy the book in Moyne Stores, Corrigan’s Service Station in Legga, Lynch’s in Arva and Kane’s Supermarket, Edgeworthstown as well as from Fr Tommy himself.