A 67-YEAR-OLD widower will be ordained to the priesthood at St John’s Cathedral in Limerick tomorrow. Originally from Keane Street, Killalee, in the city, Fr John O’Bryne’s ordination is the first in the diocese this year.
The father of two decided to pursue his vocation after his wife of 35 years, Martha, died in 2004.
The grandfather, who lives in Janesboro in Limerick city, said his son Jonathan and daughter Mary were very supportive of his decision.
“I decided a couple of years after my wife died to make the inquiries about it. It came to me and I kept pushing it away but I needed to talk to somebody within the clergy about it. I thought I was too old and that I’d be told that I was too old but that wasn’t the case.”
Fr O’Byrne said he always had a strong faith but he never dreamed that some day he would be a priest. “God works in strange ways,” he added.
He has spent the last four years studying for the priesthood at the Pontifical Beda College in Rome, a seminary for mature vocations.
Fr O’Byrne admits it is not an easy time to be entering the priesthood and he was deeply saddened by the Cloyne report. “No sane-minded person could condone anything like that but we have to get on and do the best we can through God’s holy will,” he said.
He thinks it is too soon for him to comment on changes he would like to see in the Catholic Church, but is confident for the future.
“The church has come through crisis before and, please God, it will come through it again.”