Making the choice of Faith

Personal Profile

Colm Fitzpatrick speaks with university lecturer Fr Niall Coll

Born in 1963, East Donegal native Fr Niall Coll is no stranger to teaching having been a lecturer in Belfast’s St Mary’s University College since 2001, providing students with the opportunity to develop their religious education and Faith.

Fr Niall’s personal interest in religion, which eventually led him to become parish priest in Raphoe, dates back to his youth, following the influence of his family and St Eunan’s secondary school in Letterkenny which he attended.

“I came from a very devout family – religion was a very natural part of life, it was just the way we were brought up. From a young age I was an altar server and I had a very close familiarity with the liturgy and the sacraments. It all seemed a very natural part of life,” he explains, adding that in his school two or three men usually went to the priesthood, so it wasn’t as “big a step” to follow in their footsteps.

Degree

After completely his leaving certificate, Fr Niall studied history and geography for his degree, and then did a further undergraduate Theology degree in Maynooth, subsequently being ordained a deacon. In 1988, he was ordained a priest, soon afterwards becoming a chaplain and teacher in his past secondary school. Still keen about the academy, he did a PGCE in Trinity College, and further doctoral studies in Rome on the topic of Christology. After two teaching posts in Carlow and Donegal, he moved to Belfast in 2001 to take up a position in St. Mary’s.

His role as priest and teacher complement one another, as both entail serving, giving and forming so that the message of the Gospel can be heard.

“The priesthood is a gift that you live for other people. So, it’s in serving the people of God that you’re a priest. The priesthood isn’t a gift for yourself, so it’s always in terms of service. The priesthood only makes sense in that context for me, so that you serve the people by sharing the Word and breaking the bread with them,” he says.

One way Fr Niall is able to share the Faith is through his lecturing post in St Marys, where he teaches Religious Education to trainee teachers. Founded in 1900, the university prides itself on its distinctive contribution to service and excellence, in the Catholic tradition, to higher education in Northern Ireland.

“There is a sense that in many ways, that it has been a great privilege working for them because they are going to be so important to the education of young people in Ireland for the upcoming generations. And in many ways too, I often think that many of the young people I teach, a proportion of them are going to be really central figures in the life of the Church in Ireland over the next 50 years,” Fr Niall says.

He adds that many of his students will become teachers, members of parishes and parents, noting that in an Ireland with a marked shortfall of priests they will be called more upon into leadership roles be it theological, scriptural, liturgical or educational.

“It’s very important for them to be teachers and go into schools and meet the needs of the curriculum but also I like to think there’s a wider vision that these teachers – these people – will be important to the life of the Church in a changing and changed Ireland.”

Having been teaching religion for 17 years, Fr Niall finds his students “very open”, noting that Faith in Ireland must be bolstered by reason, as opposed to the “old structures” of the past that made belief almost “tribal” and “automatic”.

As personal Faith today is a matter of choice, Fr Niall believes that it’s important to help people to develop the ability to make the choice of Faith.

“The whole Catholic way of life, it’s very important to bring your reason, bring your intelligence because intelligence and reason are God-given gifts. You don’t find God by running away from reason or Faith. Reason alone is insufficient because we have to be open to the surprise of God, of God’s grace,” he explains.

One notable way Fr Niall tries to promote Faith and education is through editing the Catholic biannual magazine Le Chéile, now in its 29th edition, which tries to nourish teachers and principals in schools, inform them about the distinctive nature of Catholic education, and help people to realise the good that Catholic education offers.

This term’s magazine addresses topics such as climate change and Laudato Si’, the power of sacred music, and the intrigue of everyone’s personal life journey, all of which offer an insight into theology and the role of Faith in our world today. For Fr Niall, initiatives like these, alongside ministering and teaching allow people to discern what Faith really means to them.

“I think that’s the big challenge into the future for the Church in general: How do we help people? How do we make the choice of Faith?”

For a digital edition of Le Chéile, see: https://www.stmarys-belfast.ac.uk/mission/lecheile.asp