A long journey: The first Spiritan priest to be ordained in Ireland since 2001

In Westport, Co Mayo last Monday the Archbishop of Tuam Michael Neary ordained Fr John Regan, a member of the Pallottine congregation. "John assumes this new responsibility at a time of rapid change in our country and in our church. The sociological props which were there in support of faith in the past are being belted away one by one," Archbishop Neary said.

“Ours is a time for deepening of faith and responding with courage,” he said, “as we cope with the challenges of a culture which at times is endeavouring to behave as if God did not exist.”

Fr Regan is one of nine men to be ordained Catholic priests in Ireland this year.

Just six men began training for the Catholic priesthood at the national seminary, St Patrick's College Maynooth, last autumn. It is believed to be the lowest number since its foundation in 1795. The only Catholic seminary remaining in Ireland, it has 36 seminarians. A further four men are studying for the Dublin archdiocese at the Irish College in Rome.

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Among those ordained this year was Fr Robert Smyth (33) from Knocklyon in Dublin. He was ordained by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin at the Pro-Cathedral yesterday, on Friday, June 29th.

Typical of ordinations in recent times, Smyth's is a late vocation. A first class honours Trinity College Dublin graduate in Management Science and Information Systems Studies, he spent six years working full-time as a management consultant at Accenture, in both Ireland and the UK, before deciding on the priesthood.

Smyth brings to 17 the number of men ordained priests for Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese in 13 years. A further 26 men have been made permanent deacons in the past six years. They may carry out all the functions of a priest except celebrate the Eucharist.

Altogether, more than 380 diocesan and religious priests serve in the Dublin archdiocese, including in its 199 parishes, along with 26 men and women working as parish pastoral workers.

In the Irish Catholic Church there are now 71 permanent deacons (including the 26 in Dublin), with a further 45 in training.

Spiritan ordination

Another – less typical – ordination will take place on Sunday, July 1st, at Kimmage Manor in Dublin. Hong Kong-born Samson "Sam" Mann (56) will be ordained a Spiritan priest – the first ordination for the Irish province of the Spiritans in 17 years. It will be conducted by Bishop Denis Wiehe of Port Victoria diocese in the Seychelles.

Rev Mann describes his as "a long story" which has involved Australia, Taiwan, Tanzania, the UK, Vietnam, Ireland, and Hong Kong where he grew up. His mother was "a Baptist Christian. I was brought up in a fairly Christian family I must say, but not in the Catholic tradition."

Rev Sam attended Catholic schools in Hong Kong, where a majority of pupils were not Catholic. “It just happened.” He “received a very good education from the De La Salle Brothers” at primary and early secondary level and where most of the brothers came from Ireland.

In his late teens he converted to Catholicism. He continued his secondary education in Toronto, Canada, at the Spiritan-run Neil McNeil High School while staying with members of his extended family there. Completing his secondary education, he "signed up for the Spiritans" and studied for a degree in philosophy, sociology, Christianity and culture, at the University of Toronto.

In 1987 he came to Ireland to join the Irish Province of the Spiritans. "Hong Kong has no Spiritans and if I was to be a Spiritan I had to be assigned to a Province." Based at Kimmage Manor, there followed a three-year theology course at St Patrick's College, Maynooth.

Then “in 1990 I decided, I wouldn’t use the word ‘leave’ because I’ve never actually left”. He “discontinued”, “suspended” his journey to priesthood. “It took me 21 years to complete that suspension,” he said.

Uncertainty

An “uncertainty” had set in. His superiors told him if he finished the theology degree and became “a good Christian”, then “we’re still good friends. If you decide to come back at some point [they didn’t expect 21 years] then we can take it from there.’ They were very open.”

He left to study for a masters in sociology at Warwick University in England and followed up with a doctorate "on Chinese food catering in Scotland", which he completed in Glasgow. "It has nothing to do with cookery, [but is] all about labour, production experience, a bit on migrant experience."

In the late 1990s he went to Sydney in Australia where he worked in community care for older people and those with intellectual disabilities.

In 2011 he reconnected with the Spiritans in Australia through Irish members of the congregation he met there. He was sent “to do formation in Tanzania and from there I was sent to Vietnam and from there I was called back to Ireland”.

The decision to rejoin “was a gradual process. I’m not going to say it was like St Paul falling off the horse.” He had come to see social work as “an arm of the welfare state. The way I see it for pastoral care and mission work, the one difference is faith conviction.

“If there is no church, no Christ, no God, social workers still have their jobs. If there’s no God, no Christ, you’re [as a pastoral worker] unemployed. Those guys are redundant. They follow that life based on their conviction,” he said.

He arrived a point where he felt “it was the right thing to make a life commitment”. He decided to become a priest. “The idea never left me,” he said.

Following a rigorous psychological assessment he was moved to a "real outback parish, a frontier mining town, Port Hedland, at the northern tip of Western Australia. The Spiritans have a parish there."

Then he was sent to Tanzania in East Africa where he was involved in teaching and formation with the Spiritans for 14 months before being sent to Vietnam for a spiritual year.

In 2014 he returned to Ireland, to help the Spiritans at the An Tobar retreat and spirituality centre in Ardbraccan, Co Meath, and at their Spirasi centre on Dublin's North Circular Road, where he worked in pastoral care and with the psycho-social team, helping victims of torture who have come to Ireland.

In 2016 he was sent to Taiwan, where he worked for 14 months in parishes near the capital Taipei. He returned to Ireland last September, made his final vows in October, and was ordained deacon and became a "Rev"in December 2017.

Looking back he wonders: “Why did I say no to God at that time, and why do I say yes to God now?” Back then “I wasn’t ready” but “I treasured my Catholic faith throughout”.