Finding God in the silence

Personal Profile

Colm Fitzpatrick speaks with the new Prior of 
Lough Derg

With the summer months of sun and holidays fast approaching, one man is preparing to greet pilgrims from all over the world for a spiritual retreat in a small island in Donegal.

Lough Derg, which has been a place of Christian pilgrimage since the fifth century, is beginning its three-day pilgrimages this June. Alongside this new season is a new Prior, Fr Laurence (La) Flynn who was appointed last October, after having been involved in the Lough Derg community for thirty years.

However, although Fr La is accustomed to witnessing personal piety from pilgrims in Ireland and further afield, the religious culture of today has shifted greatly since he was a young man.

“I grew up in an Ireland in a rural setting where Christian Faith was very much taken for granted both in the Protestant areas and in the Catholic families…I would recognise that not everyone came to church with the same level of personal devotion, and I also acknowledge probably in many ways for most people a fairly unquestioned Faith,” Fr La says, but explains that people were still guided by their Faith, and it oftentimes carried them through the “ups and downs of life”.

The youngest of five, Fr La grew up in Roscrea in Co Fermanagh during the 1950’s, in a household where religion was greatly respected. As a young boy he often attended early morning Mass with his mother, and even had a role as an altar server. Before entering secondary school, Fr La says he had already considered the priesthood. After concretising this decision, he trained in St Patrick’s College Maynooth, and then studied in the Irish College in Rome. In 1976, he was ordained in Clogher in Monaghan Cathedral and has been pursuing this religious ministry ever since.

Process

“I don’t know if it might be true to say that I never found myself considering taking any other road,” he says, stressing that this process required periods of discernment and struggle, in particular, the question of whether or not he was “good enough” to be a disciple of Jesus. “Once I resolved that I didn’t have to earn the love of God and that Jesus would be faithful to me if I committed myself to him as a disciple – the struggles, when they emerged, they were more around accepting that for me love in Jesus was the absolute foundation of my life and once that was resolved then it was clear that the priesthood was going to be the best way for me,” he says.

After his ordination, Fr Flynn first ministered on Lough Derg during the three-day pilgrimage season of 1978 and has served there for at least some weeks continuously up until now. He also taught in schools such as St Macartan’s College and volunteered in East Africa before becoming parish priest in Ballybay in 2004.

Throughout this time, he says that Lough Derg has been “very good” to him, and that he was always available to teach, to listen to others, and could passionately engage in liturgical and congregational singing. Not only did this contribute to his personal development, but the island was also a location where he developed long-lasting friendships.

“Lough Derg holds a place in my heart because some of the people in my life who became my best friends are people who I met on Lough Derg. Sometimes when I was doing the pilgrimage, sometimes when I was working here and that just happened to be where I made those connections, and as I say those people have become lifelong friends,” he says.

Lough Derg survives today as an early remnant of the early Irish Church and history points to there probably being a religious presence around it before St Patrick as it was common for Christians to seek to supplant pagan sites with foundations of their own. From June to August, a three-day pilgrimage there is offered which provides the opportunity to take time out and experience the embrace of the deep love and mercy of God. It is often described as a personal and unique experience in an atmosphere of compassion and healing.

Fr La explains that his new position as Prior meant uprooting from Ballybay where he had been parish priest for 13 years and moving to the village of Pettigo in Co Donegal. He lives on Lough Derg for the summer pilgrimages and is routinely encouraged by the “amazing” sense of teamwork present on the island. Ten full-time staff work all year around, and during the pilgrimage season, young part-time staff have the chance to work on the boats, in the kitchen or in the office.

Active

Fr La points out that it may superficially seem that employees on the island are only active during the summer, but he has now realised that plenty of activity is taking place throughout the year such as promotional work like advertising, as well as one day retreats. Quoting a prominent businessman, he says that part of his role now is to make sure that those people working on the island are able to give their very best.

Although volunteering, learning the language and culture in East Africa was a challenge, Fr La believes that trying to communicate effectively in today’s Ireland is much more difficult.

“Really, I think there’s probably a bigger challenge for me to find the language and to relate to so much that has changed in Irish culture since I was young,” he says.

Despite these challenges, Lough Derg will continue to act as one outlet to allow people to come together and experience the message of the Gospel.

For more information about Lough Derg, see: http://www.loughderg.org/