Reverend Deverell celebrates 25 years in St Maelruain’s Parish

REVEREND William Deverell celebrated 25 years since he arrived in St Maelruain’s Parish in Tallaght with a presentation by parishioners after the family Mass on Sunday, June 27.

Rev Deverell was presented with a chocolate cake, a book by the parishioners outlining the impact he has had on them, and a new television.

The experience was a humbling one for the reverend, who this week told The Echo about what his first impressions of Tallaght were when he arrived here in 1999.

“The hospital had just been built, the Square was open, and the council offices had been built, so I was very lucky,” he said.

“The high rises have all now appeared since, so I think I probably came at the right time.

“When I arrived, there were no children [in the parish]. People had moved out here from places like Crumlin, but their children had grown up and moved away. “My own children were the youngest, but fortunately, more immigrants moved in, and they were all younger than I and all had kids.”

The changing demographics of the parish has been a positive for Rev Deverell, with particularly strong representation from the African and Indian communities.

Throughout his time here, a mainstay has been the support of his family, including his wife, Valerie, daughter Amy and son Lionel.

“Behind every successful man is a good woman,” said Rev Deverell. “In my case there were two, obviously my wife Valerie, but also my daughter who got married in the last year.”

He also commended his son, Lionel, who works in media production and has livestreamed over 750 services in St Maelruain’s Church to Facebook.

Rev Deverell has enjoyed spending the vast majority of his clerical life preaching in Tallaght, and has a fondness for the area.

“We ourselves, we choose which areas we come to, and people choose to invite us,” said Rev Deverell, when explaining how members of the Church of Ireland clergy are sent to different parishes.

“Then you can choose to stay. I’ve always said, I’d be afraid to leave Tallaght.

There’s a heart to the place and a great community and I’ve really enjoyed the last 25 years.”

The community spirit was in full swing on Sunday, when parishioners expressed their appreciation for the reverend’s work over the years.

“They gave me a beautiful chocolate cake, and the most beautiful book where all of the parishioners wrote about what I meant to them, it was very humbling,” he said.

They also gave him a TV so he could watch services on it, and Rev Deverell said that the occasion “totally floored me”. When he was walking to the hall after the presentation, a young parishioner asked Rev Deverell what his most joyful moment was over the last 25 years.

“After Covid, we only had half a congregation,” explained Rev Deverell, when retelling his response to the question.

“I knew the Indian parents usually sat at the front and their children at the back.

“Last year, I asked the parents to bring the children to the front of the church and it got our congregation back to what it was, with a younger age profile.

“It’s terrific, at this stage in my life, to get an injection like that, preaching to the kids, and we also have a very lively choir.”

When asked what has kept him in Tallaght for all these years, Rev Deverell said the “ordinariness” of the congregation is something that has always appealed to him.

“I often say that I came here for the ordinariness of the people, they’re salt of the earth,” he said.

“And I stay for the exoticness of the immigrants, initially from Africa and latterly from India. But in reality, I stay for the ordinariness of the people.”