‘It’s my workplace, but it has become my home’

FR PAT McKinley is set to leave St Mark’s parish next month to embark on a year-long sabbatical after 11 years at the helm of four Tallaght churches.

Fr McKinley is the parish priest for St Mark’s Church in Springfield and the administrator for St Thomas’s in Jobstown, St Aidan’s in Brookfield and the Church of the Incarnation in Fettercairn.

However, early next month he will begin a year-long sabbatical. In advance of leaving the parish, Fr Pat told The Echo this week about how he felt when he first arrived in St Mark’s in September 2011.

“Many years ago – we’re talking 25 or 30 years ago – I drove a van delivering fruit for a year and one of the shops I went to was the SuperValu in Maplewood,” he recalled.

“I would run in, drop in the boxes, and run out again. All I remembered was that the area was very busy.

“When I came here [as parish priest] in 2011, I was a bit overwhelmed. It was the first time I was in a leadership position in the diocese.

“For the first six months I was overwhelmed, and I felt a huge sense of responsibility.”

Prior to arriving in St Mark’s, Fr McKinley had spent five years in a church in Donnycarney, and three years in a church in Ballymun.

When he arrived in Springfield, Fr McKinley was unaware that he was beginning an 11-year tenure in the parish, and over the years he said his sense of being overwhelmed lessened, and Tallaght became his home.

“[Being in St Mark’s], is the longest I’ve been anywhere in life,” Fr McKinley said. “The hard thing about going away is it has become my home – it’s my workplace, but it’s become my home.”

When asked about the difficulties he faced over the years looking after the four churches in the area, Fr McKinley said the prevalence of tragic deaths among young people has been hard.

“In terms of ministry, I’d say the most difficult aspect of ministry here is the amount of tragic deaths of young people,” he said.

“That’s probably been the single most difficult thing.”

In terms of the positive aspects of ministry across the four churches, Fr McKinley praised the parish teams, namely Fr Bill O’Shaughnessy, Fr Gerry Fleming, Deacon Derek Leonard, and Saule Cameron.

“I couldn’t have done it on my own. We had to work together to keep the parishes alive,” he said.

“And I think we’ve done a good job of taking these three parishes and four churches as one unit. It works really well.”

Fr McKinley also praised the wider community for their support and unwavering kindness over the years.

“The thing that always strikes me is the fundamental goodness of people, and the openness of people to me,” he said.

“People have been exceptionally kind to me.”

Looking ahead, Fr McKinley has some detailed plans for his sabbatical, including three months studying scripture in Jerusalem, three months in a monastery in Ireland, and then three months in Italy

studying theology, while also spending more time with his elderly father.

As for his thoughts on leaving the parish, Fr McKinley said: “I’m very tired, so I’ll be happy to step back from the work, but in terms of leaving the community and my home, it’s very emotional.

“It’s part of what you sign up to when you’re ordained, but that doesn’t make it any easier on a human level.”

Fr Bill O’Shaughnessy will be taking over Fr McKinley’s role across the three parishes and four churches when he begins his sabbatical next month.