Inside Story: Fr Tom's a man of the people

Sitting down with Fr Tom in his dainty Belturbet home, walls littered with local art and floors stacked with books, he’s not the type who springs to mind when you think of a curate. Having dispensed with the dog collar more than two-decades ago, except for official purposes, lolling back in his preferred armchair Fr Tom's naturally relaxed and open persona are his trademarks.

“You have to be open. That's the whole purpose of life, and that makes life very, very interesting,” he says with eyes lit and a bellyful chuckle.
At the same time, when people are in turn open with him in confiding personal stories, he’s mindful to respect to those involved and determinedly guards their trust. “That's terribly important, preserving trust and integrity.
“While the priesthood is being run down by some, and there are fewer entering vocations, I don't think there is another walk of life that you come across so much of life itself. It is a privilege to be part of people's lives, at their most vulnerable, at times of great need, in all sorts of circumstances, and also when they're being joyful too.”
Eldest of seven sons growing up in Corlismore, Fr Tom was schooled in St Patrick's College, where two of his life's callings would develop.
“I enjoyed football. When I got to school then it was about the only outlet you had, because those were cold dreary days as a boarder in the ‘50s. It meant you got going places too. Football has been good to me too,” says Fr Tom, a member of Ulster title winning Cavan minor football team of 1959, who went on to reach the All-Ireland final only to lose out to Dublin by 0-11 to 1-4.
A Lacken player at heart, the former chairman of Cavan Minor Board has in the past togged out for many teams; in his early years often where his placements would take him, and later as a coach, especially at underage level. His love of the game started out at home and school with a ball made out of paper, wrapped in twine, which Fr Tom and his friends “kicked about ‘til it fell apart”.
It was after he stopped playing that he took on the role of overseer and coach.
“I’ve been training youngsters for the best part of 30-years. I enjoy young people, but also they enjoy playing with each other. Involvement is vitally important I feel. The last words I would always say when sending a team out to play would be: ‘Enjoy yourselves. You'll enjoy yourself by giving every inch you have, but enjoy yourself’. That was always the bottom line.”
With the return of a playful glint to his eye, he adds: “Don't get me wrong, I took it seriously too. I never got in trouble with a referee, never. I kept my mouth shut as best I could. But it was always the way to hit as hard as you could, if only to even things up.”
On the current state of the game at national level Fr Tom attempts to avoid sounding too dogmatic whilst decrying the taming of talented players.
“There are some teams who play, what I would call ‘the right way’. But they're few and far between. Dublin for one, Kerry another when they get going. I like the look of Galway this year, they're playing a nice brand of football.
“I like skill. I don't like someone from the sideline putting restrictions on players, all this control that's there now. I like initiative, decision making on the field, that's what brings out the outstanding player. When you go to a game what is it you enjoy? It’s not just about the winning. But the way football seems to be going now it’s all about the system, I'm not a fan of that.”
Fr Tom’s spiritual ‘calling’ and entrance to the Maynooth came after a school-yard suggestion by classmate and friend, the late former County Manager Brian Johnston.
“I never dreamt I’d end up where I did end up. As a young fella my vision had always been to meet someone, love them and marry them. In my last year however I was worried about getting the Leaving, and I was asking the Lord to get me through. There was no pennies going to loss at home at that time, times were hard, and very difficult. Money was scarce. But I remember Brian saying to me, ‘I think you should become a priest’, and it dropped with me. It was as simple as that.”
Ordained on June 18, 1967 in the Cathedral in Cavan, Fr Tom was one of four to become priests that year. There were 28 young men from the Diocese looking to enter the priesthood at the time, compared to just one today. Fr Tom accepts there needs to be change from within the Catholic church.
“There is no question about that. But the church is very slow to change. In my 50 years it hasn't hardly changed at all. Except maybe the present Pope, Pope Francis. The evening I heard he had been chosen, I said, ‘This man is going to be different’, and he has. He has moved the focus back to where it should be: to the people.
“The church should not be an isolated law giving institution, it’s not about rules and regulations, it’s about the people, it’s about the heart, and spreading love. There is nothing else in life as important. So the church has to channel that.”
Of course the Irish church has known some dark episodes over the last half century. Fr Tom was amongst the first to alert the church hierarchy of the abhorrent abuse of minors at the hands of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.
Approached by the widowed mother of a young teenage girl raped by Smyth, Fr Tom remembers that night “very clearly”.
With only a limited awareness of what paedophilia actually was, Fr Tom's reaction to the revelations was one of “shock”, and an urgent impulse to inform gardaí. Only for the mother's reluctance at getting Smyth in trouble did Fr Tom stay his hand, but he did report the matter immediately and directly to Bishop of Kilmore at the time, the late Francis MacKiernan.
“If she said it once that night she said 10 times or more, ‘I don't want him to get into any trouble’. I had never met Brendan Smyth and to this day I’m glad I never did, because every morning after meeting that woman my blood boiled. I held myself back from going up to [Kilnacrott] and thumping the lard out of him. But I wasn't that kind of person.
“About 10 days later I got a letter from the bishop and the abbot at Kilnacrott telling me [Smyth] had been sent to a psychiatrist, was receiving treatment and it wouldn't happen again. Rightly or wrongly I took that at face value. I never heard a whimper of him again for nearly 20-years.”
Fr Tom counts himself “lucky” to have, as a newly ordained priest, to come under the tutelage of Monsignor PJ McManus, who himself is soon approaching 70 years ordained.
“He said, ‘People come to you, but that if ever you're going to err, err against yourself not against them.’
“It’s about openness to everyone, no matter what their circumstances. He wasn’t a man of many words, but when he did speak you listened. That openness is why I can say at this stage in my life my heart is smiling through what I have received in meeting people. All the different strands of life, it has been amazing,” says Fr Tom, who retired in 2012.
Among the roles served by Fr Tom in the past 50-years have been as Diocesan Examiner to 181 local Primary and Post-Primary schools and their 11,000 children. He also returned to his Alma Mater, St Pat's College as spiritual director. Betwixt and between Fr Tom spent time as a priest in north Leitrim, Drung, Cornafean, Virginia, and most recently Bawnboy and Templeport.
He happily declares that he has “no regrets” in life.
“The way I see it is, God has blessed me with an amazing life, the people I’ve come across, things I did, but it’s always been in response to someone or something else.
“All I can add to that is that I enjoy life greatly, the people I have met. I think, and always have, that if you’re half decent to people then people can be extremely generous. Really. Meeting people, being with people makes you grow as a person.”