Farewell to a leader, Canon Mark

Farewell, you’ll be dearly missed was the sentiment echoed around the room of Canon Mark Lidwill’s retirement function in the Cavan Crystal Hotel on Sunday afternoon.

After 34 years of service to the Cavan group of parishes and the wider community, fond memories were shared and tears shed for a man to whom speakers paid homage - a legend, a leader, a good samaritan, and a torch for the whole community.

At his final united service, a gathering of the three parishes of Cavan, Denn and Derryheen, Canon Mark left the congregation with the three words of grace, love and fellowship, which he asked them to take forward in their daily lives.

“Taking one's leave and letting go is always painful,” the Tipperary man expressed, adding a heartfelt thank you to his parishioners for their support over his career.

He shared the name of his favourite song, 'Happy to Meet - Sorry to Part', from Dublin band Horslips' debut album, fitting for the day that was in it.

Before making his way to Ballyhaise, where he will retire with Barbara, his wife of 32 years, The Anglo-Celt met with Canon Mark in the Rectory located on Keadue Lane.

Years of memories had already been carefully placed in boxes, waiting to be moved to their next home, with larger items to follow.

The 67 year old walks to his favourite room of the home. There is energy in his gait and his presence as he enters a bright, airy space with a large bay window overlooking a vast green garden with well-kept flowers and shrubs. Two seats are placed by the window-side, where a man mows the lawn as we speak.

Serving for a total of 37 years, having begun his journey doing curacy in Cootehill and Belturbet, Canon Mark relays how he found his path in life. Originally from Templemore, he was brought up on a farm with his brother and sister, and later managed the family farm. After secondary school in Dublin, Mark travelled to Darjeeling in Northern India. Upon his return, rather than being tempted to the nearby Garda College, he studied in Gurteen College qualifying with a national certificate in agriculture and farmed for around seven years.

“A change of course then,” he says, setting down the pitchfork and taking up his pen once again as he set off to The Church of Ireland Theological College in Rathgar where he spent three years, graduating with a diploma.

“I was at home and was involved a little in the local church there in Templemore and just felt I’d like to go further with this.

“Of course it was a big upheaval because it entailed selling the farm, which was a big family decision,” he said, adding that his family were “very supportive".

“It all worked out great,” he beamed.

“Like so many things in life, when you look back you see how everything fell into place,” he said.

He made the journey, a long way in those days, to Cavan in what he described as “very different times".

“It was back in the time of the Troubles,” he recalled.

Arriving in June of 1987, he recalled taking a service on Remembrance Day in Belturbet later that year in November.

“News came through of the Enniskillen bomb. There was an awful feeling of fear and panic,” he remembered.

Canon Mark is a great believer in ecumenism, a belief that was “a lot more difficult” in those times.

“It [ecumenism] was a very dirty word in the time of the Troubles and in the 80s.

“Churches were a lot more separate on all sides, it wasn’t just a Church of Ireland or Protestant side.

“It was a difficult time and you can understand but, luckily, there was a great ecumenical movement in Cavan,” he said, mentioning particularly Pat Nally of VEC Cavan who was “very involved” in ecumenism.

“We do have our own traditions and people like their own ways of worship and there’s nothing wrong with that as long as you respect other people, that’s the way I’d see it.

“I really believe that all Christian churches have far, far more in common than what divides them basically.

“I really believe that we’re all pilgrims on the one journey and that we need to be there for each other rather than falling out along the way.”

“We have our own traditions but that doesn’t make us any better or worse than any other church.”

Outside the single panel window, which Canon Mark remarks may not be suitable if the next residents in the Rectory have children, the lawn is near completion.

Who the next residents will be, the next head of the three parishes, is unknown and is expected to remain that way for quite some time.

“That’s a process,” he informed.

The process began on Monday July 1, after Canon Mark’s retirement from the role on June 30.

“It’s quite a democratic system,” he said, explaining that there are four parochial nominators, two from Cavan and one from Denn and Derryheen respectively, who join with four diocesan nominators and the bishop, making nine people in total. They come up with a list of nominees for the position.

“It’s sort of a democratic thing because the parish doesn’t have the last say and the diocese doesn’t have the last say, you have to get both to agree to get a candidate in.”

Interim arrangements

In the interim, Dean Nigel Crossey will be in charge of the parish with lay readers and other members of the clergy taking services and communion.

Asked what he enjoyed the most about his time in Cavan, Canon Mark replied: “The people I meet without any doubt. I love the people up here and that’s what it’s all about.”

It is safe to say that Canon Mark is a people person. Speaking at the opening of the ceremony at the Cavan Crystal Hotel, Canon Billy Stafford estimated that Canon Mark made 1,300 visits per year, which was around 23 per week, visiting people in hospital every day except Sunday and also in nursing homes every week.

Those who have been in his presence know his warm, jolly character, bringing a smile to everybody’s lips. He was always there to celebrate in good times and console in difficult times. Canon Billy said the parish will find an imitation but will rever quite replace Canon Mark in his “ministry of absolute wonder".

Canon Mark led four services every Sunday, he estimates 6,800 in his lifetime excluding confirmations, weddings, funerals and other occasions down through the years. Having stayed busy in his profession all his life, Canon Mark recites retirement advice given to him from the previous Bishop, Ken Clarke.

“He said 'you know Mark, the whole secret of retirement is, do the things you like doing and don’t do the things you don’t like doing!'.”

With vestry meetings and boards of management meetings deemed “history”, Canon Mark plans to do visits and take services in the Drung group of churches. He also plans to learn how to play the keyboard, learn how to cook with his organically grown vegetables, get more involved in community groups and of course tend to his beloved garden, already installed in Ballyhaise. He also hopes to get a mobile phone, which anyone who has searched for his number, knows doesn't exist as of yet.

“I’d love to get [one]. There’s marvellous apps on birdsong, all these things you can get now,” he beamed.

Outside, the grass was cut to perfection and the strimmer had begun.

Canon Mark shared what he hopes to have portrayed in his 37 years of service.

“The key message of Christianity is that God loves every one of us no matter who we are or what we’ve done, we’re very precious to God and, if people could get that into their heads, I’d be happy.

“That’s the starting point for everything.”

* For a full gallery of photos from Canon Lidwill's retirement, see this week's print edition of The Anglo-Celt.