IRELAND
Derry Journal
Tuesday 1st November 2005
Many have described this week as a black week for the Catholic Church but for the Letterkenny based priest Eamonn Kelly the black times were when the crimes were committed against innocent children.
From the pulpit he told those who lined the seats in silence listening to his sermon that the black time was when innocence was stolen, when the confidence was robbed and when fear was instilled into wee hearts that should have remained free.
The curate admits that he was devastated with all that has happened so much so that in his sermon last Sunday the softly spoken curate told the parish that he questioned if he had chosen the right vocation.
" Most of my life I was a barman, for some years over at home and for a good number of years I worked in the bar trade in Dublin. Over the past week at different times, especially at night I found myself wondering about my decision to become a priest. If I could decide again, I wondered, would I come forward for priesthood or would I remain behind the counter? And it would be tempting to go behind that counter again --when I feel the disgust in my core for what has happened, or when I cringe in shame as I hear a survivor of abuse tell his or her story or when I see the tears of someone struggling to rebuild a devastated life.
Posted by kshaw at November 1, 2005 02:56 PM