Twenty-Third Week of Ordinary Time – Year B: 08.09.2024
Mass at 11.30am – St. Clare’s Church, Graiguecullen
Ruby Anniversary: Fr. John Dunphy
10th June 1984
Introduction:
It’s been a very rough week, for those who suffered silently in our schools for far too long. The Scoping Inquiry shines a light on a very dark past. Behind every sentence, every paragraph, every page of that Report released on Tuesday last, is a young child, who suffered hugely in the very place they deserved to feel safe.
I commend the survivors of abuse who found their voice in the unfolding of this scoping inquiry. Here in St. Clare’s Church, Graiguecullen, I want to express my heartfelt sorrow for the trauma experienced by too many and promise, as your Bishop, I will do my utmost to ensure the work of safeguarding continues to be a priority in every facet of diocesan life.
This morning Jesus invites us to find our voice by touching our lips with those same words he spoke to the deaf man – “Ephphatha”[1] – ‘Be Opened’/’Be Loosened’/’Be Freed’. The healing of one in St. Mark’s gospel who was both deaf and mute with that single word.
The power of language, the power of articulation, the power of encounter. I pray those abused in our day and boarding schools, run by Religious Orders, and indeed in the wider Church and society, will have encountered some sense of healing in recent days. And I realise it is very much a journey.
In today’s Mass we meet Christ the Healer, who has a strong resonance with every aspect of Graiguecullen/Killeshin parish. It is entirely appropriate that we gather this Sunday around Fr. John, to honour and celebrate his Ruby Anniversary of Ordination. I welcome warmly his mother Bridie; his sisters Anne and Breda; his brother Colm, Colm’s wife Trish; his Godmother Lyla; his nephews Robin and Eoin (and Eoin’s wife and children). I welcome John’s sister Mary who joins us from Italy. I welcome the priests who gather, alongside parishioners and friends, including those from Lourdes: Catherine, Angela and Ted.
John brings great energy, commitment and dedication to all he does. He is a priest to his fingertips. This parish is an example of how young people can be nurtured in their faith in the safest of environments, the church, the parish centre. Today would be the 69th Anniversary of his parent’s marriage. In welcoming Bridie, we fondly think of Liam, and all we miss on days like this and so we take a moment to watch a short clip of well wishes from the Poor Clare’s and others who cannot simply be here …
Homily:
Today’s gospel from St. Mark brings us a profound sense of the close involvement of Jesus with people. Jesus did not heal from a distance. He had no fear of infection, he was very content to lay his hands on the man, even to putting his fingers in the man’s ears and touching his tongue with spittle. It was very much a rolling up the sleeve’s ministry.
I recall the beautiful baptismal moment two weeks ago when I prayed The Ephphatha Prayer over my god-daughters little twins in the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Jenkinstown, as the parents with me traced a sign of the Cross over the ears and mouth of Clodagh and Orla.
The very same happened in the old church in Portlaoise in the autumn of 1959 as Bridie and Liam Dunphy presented John for baptism. None of us know what will become of a child after baptism, their faith journey is entrusted not only to parents and family but to the wider community. Last Sunday, John turned sixty-five!
Having been educated in the Patrician Brothers, Abbeyleix and the Salesians in Heywood, John entered St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth in 1977, ordained on Pentecost Sunday in 1984 in St. Brigid’s Church, Ballinakill. He taught in Knockbeg for eight years, before taking up a curacy in Monasterevin for a further eight years, then to Newbridge for five years. John was appointed Parish Priest of Graiguecullen Killeshin Parish on the sixth of August 2005, where he has remained since.
It’s right and proper that we gather around John to celebrate this milestone not just in years but in what has been achieved in the outreach and mission that is Graiguecullen Killeshin. He would be very quick to move the spotlight off himself and on to others, but John, as all of you know, leads by example. He does not ask someone to do something, he wouldn’t do himself. He walks the walk; he talks the talk.
He engages fully with the schools, as St. Fiacc’s, Killeshin, the Saplings and Knockbeg will attest but also the many young people in St. Leo’s, in the CBS, in Tyndall, in Presentation College and in the Gaelcholáiste who are part of the youth ministry that is at the heart of this parish. John is never afraid to ask the tough questions and think outside the box as he does with sacramental preparation, firmly moving it into a personal commitment and parish focus with the schools still involved.
His small keepsake Ordination Card had a verse from Psalm 85 “Justice shall march before him and peace shall follow his steps”[2]. From the very beginning of his priesthood John Dunphy has always had a keen eye out for justice and the rights of all. I know St. Francis of Assisi is his favourite saint. John’s eye for justice and outreach crystallised in the building and operation of St. Clare’s Food Kitchen across Graigue Bridge. I recall the early days of St. Clare’s Hospitality and there was a delivery of food hampers around the town, around Christmas. Fr. John was of course in the heart of the action. I think Liam Lawton might have been driving the delivery van, but John fell out the back door, such was his sense, like Jesus, of always having a close involvement with people. It was not a serious fall, the back needed a little attention, but mind you, as a Man United supporter recently, he is more recently accustomed to falling! We will not even mention the match last Sunday, I am glad Buddy was a distraction from the Red Devils on his birthday!
John is always generous in his outreach, pastorally, liturgically, and spiritually. I know that the Poor Clare’s keep John’s mission at the heart of their prayer. John gives of himself, while also empowering women and men around him to take their full place in the church. He reflects deeply on ministry and outreach and today we simply say thanks for this. While Francis may be his favourite saint, Bernadette comes a close second, such is his love for Lourdes. And indeed, his attention to the vulnerable and sick in St. Fiacc’s Home and the District Hospital.
In Mark’s gospel Jesus models for us all a close involvement with people, a respectful one, a one that allowed the ears and mouth of the deaf man with speech disabilities to be loosened. I know that in these past days, all of us have been once again shocked by the revelations of abuse of the young and vulnerable in our schools. While schools today have robust safeguarding protocols, this assurance, by no means lessens the pain and suffering of survivors and victims in the past.
Our schools should always lead by word and by example on how to look after children in their care and particularly children with special needs. What we read in reports, what we hear on the media, sickens me, sickens good priests, sickens people of faith, sickens all of us to the core.
As we honour John Dunphy’s Ruby Jubilee we also remember survivors and their families this day, families who have been their constant companions on these difficult journeys. May all of us together move to a place where healing may begin, knowing that the Shepherd, whom John models his priesthood on, has us all in the palm of His hands.
[1] Mk.7:34
[2] Ps.85:13
