Starting Anew: An interview with Athlone priest Fr John Deignan

'Parish priest in Athlone' is Fr John Deignan's new job title but he's held several others over the last twenty years.

He has worked in the motor industry in Dublin, on community initiatives in Northern Ireland, and in a job with technology firm Intel.

These diverse experiences came about as a result of his 15-year break from the priesthood, which started around the turn of the century.

Ordained in 1994, the Sligo native initially worked in Streamstown, and then Boyle, in Roscommon but after his first six years of ministry he was spent.

"I had burned myself out completely," he recalls. "I was at that stage where you know you're no good to yourself or anybody else. So I decided to take a year out. And at the end of that year I didn't come back."

Fr John is speaking to the Westmeath Independent on a crisp Friday morning in the office of his parish of Saints Peter and Paul. His extended break from ministry ended in January 2016 when he became a curate in Monksland, where he still resides.

During his time out he worked for eight years in the motor industry in Dublin ("I always had an interest in cars") and then spent five years on a project connected with the peace process in the North, which aimed to bring with Catholic and Protestant communities together to "find common interests and common understanding."

He then worked for Intel in Leixlip for a year. Stepping away from ministry was, he says, a refreshing change of pace.

"It was actually a lovely experience, because you went from being somebody who was known everywhere, and had no private life, to suddenly being anonymous. It was nice to walk down the street and not be known."

He had gone into studying for the priesthood straight after secondary school, and the break from ministry gave him an opportunity to add to his life experience.

"I travelled a lot. I encountered a huge amount of people and had experiences I would never have had otherwise. So I have absolutely no regrets."

What drew him back to the priesthood?

"It's hard to explain unless you've been through it, but the level of contact and the level of connection that you have with people through ministry I never matched anywhere else in the 15 years.

"When you're in ministry, and you go into a situation with an open mind and the right intention, the power that has to change somebody's life or bring somebody through a very difficult time... there's no other job that can match that.

"I worked in jobs where I would have been paid multiples of the salary I'm on now but it's not about (money). It's about what you can actually do and how you feel about what you're doing."

He is very enthusiastic about the Monksland area, where he has enjoyed working with some "tremendous" local people over the last two and a half years.

"The number of good, committed people that are working hard to build community out there is just unreal," he says.

This is very much a changing time for the Catholic Church. The decreasing number of Irish priests means more members of the clergy from overseas are being recruited to serve in Irish parishes. A priest from Uganda, Fr Andrew, is currently in the parish of Saints Peter and Paul on a temporary basis and Fr John hopes he will be here for a longer stint once he secures a visa.

Another African priest, from Nigeria, was welcomed by Fr John last weekend after arriving in Athlone to get some experience of pastoral ministry in a busy Irish parish.

As the landscape changes, Fr John feels this is "an exciting time" for the Church.

"The Church and the parish, as we know it, is being reborn. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing," he says.

"If you look through the documents of the Church, the Church is the people of God. It doesn't say the Church is the priest, but in Ireland we had allowed the priest to become very much what it was about.

"My hope for our parish here is that the laity will be much more involved in decision-making, in planning, and in the future of the parish."

The parish is among the largest in the Diocese of Elphin, and this creates administrative and financial challenges. Fr John points out that insurance on the Church of Saints Peter and Paul comes to €13,000 a year, while oil heating for the building costs close to €1,000 a week during the winter.

One of the ways Fr John is hoping to build community is by holding community Masses. "There's a successful one in Monksland, in the community centre on the Old Tuam Road.

"The last Mass there was attended by 59 people on a Thursday night. There was a cup of tea, a scone, and a little bit of craic afterwards and people really get to know each other. There was a great sense of community and caring for each other. And that, I think, is the future of our Church."

He believes the recent visit of Pope Francis showed there was no shortage of faith among Irish people.

"I don't think there's a faith crisis in Ireland, but there is a practice crisis," he says. "I think people are looking for faith as some miraculous thing, when in actual fact they have it but they're not aware that they have it.

"So it's not that faith is gone, it's that practice is gone. And I think that comes down to a few things. It comes down to busy lives, it comes down to laziness, and it comes down to a sense of 'ah, sure we'll be grand, we'll do that when we're older'."

There's no such thing as a normal working week in Fr John's role. "There's not even a normal hour!" he laughs.

"That's the nice part of it. The downside is that a typical day is anything from 12 to 14 hours. So it's a very rewarding job, but you really need to love what you're doing because, if you don't, you just won't cut it!"

When he does get some time off, he loves to travel. "I don't travel enough, because I don't get the time. I also love technology and I can get lost in it."

As our conversation draws to a close, he speaks about the importance of priests going out into the community and ministering to the people.

"Many priests are still afraid to minister to people because of the scandals that were in the church," he says.

"Many priests are still frightened that - if I'm seen going in there or if I'm seen around a place - people will say this, that, and the other. I don't believe that's true. I believe people are open to the reality of the priest ministering to them, but we have to reach out.

"We're never going to get satisfaction in ministry if we stay locked up in our houses. We have to go out and meet our people. We have to try to get involved in their lives. When we do that, that's when our Church will begin to come back to life," he concludes.