Newly-ordained Cork priest wants 'welcoming and inclusive' Church 

Ronan Sheehan is ordained by Bishop Fintan Gavin at the Church of Saint John The Baptist, Newcestown, Co Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

Ireland’s newest priest says he hopes to be part of a Church that is more welcoming, inclusive, and open to learning new ways of doing things.

Fr Ronan Sheehan, 27, from Newcestown in Cork, who finished top of his Leaving Cert class almost a decade ago and who has his own TikTok account, was ordained in his native parish on Sunday.

The ceremony in the Church of St John the Baptist, where Fr Sheehan was baptised, received his First Communion and where, as a teenager, he served as a minister of the word, was the first ordination in Newcestown.

"It’s the place where my vocation was born, where my formation began, so it was a very special occasion,” he said.

Fr Sheehan joins the priesthood against the backdrop of a near collapse in vocations and in the midst of significant parish structural changes.

He is the only priest to be ordained in the diocese this year, and the first ordination in the diocese since 2017.

He is just the fifth from his class of 20 who began studying for the priesthood in 2013 to be ordained.

And he is first man from the parish to be ordained for the diocese of Cork and Ross since 1967.

Fr Ronan Sheehan at his ordination to the priesthood with retired Fr Richard Hurley, the last priest to be ordained from the parish in 1967. Picture: Dan Linehan

Chief celebrant, Bishop Fintan Gavin, told Fr Ronan; his proud parents Bud and Denise; his sisters Aoibhe, Leona, Oralaith, Ciara, and her husband Trevor; and the packed church that it is a challenging and exciting time to join the priesthood as the Church tries to move forward in “new ways of being a Church”.

Fr Ronan Sheehan with his parents, Bud and Denise, Fr.Richard Hurley, Monsignor Aidan O'Driscoll, Archbishop Patrick Coveney, Bishop John Buckley, Monsignor Gearoid Dullean and Fr Tom Hayes at his ordination by Bishop Fintan Gavin at the Church of Saint John The Baptist, Newcestown, Co Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

And he said the Church is being challenged to reach out to those on the margins, to those who have disconnected, to those who have been hurt by Church, and to so many young people.

“The priest is called to be a teacher, to proclaim the word in how he lives,” he said.

“The rite of ordination instructs the new priest to apply his energies to the duties of teaching in the name of Christ.

“It calls the priest to meditate on the love of God and then insists believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.

“You are being ordained at a moment in our diocese when we change how faith communities are organised as we prepare for a future full of mission, as we put out into deep water.” 

Fr Ronan says he looks forward to the journey “in equal measure daunted and excited”.

"I dream of a Church that is welcoming and that is inclusive, and that gets better at communicating that message,” he said.

“God speaks to all. God is alive in every person’s life. 

Some people may have shut that door on that, and you have to respect that.

“But I believe that there are many people today who want some aspect of God in their lives, and so it’s how that operates.

“For everyone who really cares about faith, this is on their mind. It’s about how to connect with those people, and not just bring them back to Mass. It’s about reawakening that own personal faith in them.”

Fr Ronan Sheehan with Bishop Fintan at the Church of Saint John The Baptist, Newcestown, Co Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

Fr Sheehan, who will celebrate his first Mass in the church on Monday, said he was raised in a house where religion was important and where Sunday Mass was a regular part of life.

Faith was important in his parish too, he said, where former parish priest, Fr Finbarr Crowley, asked him to become a church reader. 

He said his faith deepened in Hamilton High School in Bandon, Co Cork, where he finished top of his Leaving Cert class, achieving 605 points, in 2013.

“I grew in my own faith in secondary school and while some of my friends were stepping a foot into the idea of the priesthood, I wanted to be either two feet in, or two feet out, and so grew the idea of being a priest,” he said.

“I was exploring the idea of courses in medicine or pharmacy, but that idea of becoming a priest just wouldn’t leave me.” 

Fr Ronan Sheehan after his ordination to the priesthood with his brother-in-law Trevor O'Sullivan and his daughter Gia. Picture: Dan Linehan

He entered the seminary in Maynooth in August 2013, and said he would give it three years.

And so he began studying philosophy and theology before embarking on three years of pastoral placements in parishes, in hospitals including Cork University Hospital and the Bon Secours in Cork, and most recently, a six-month placement in Canada, where parish restructuring similar to that starting here now has been under way for about 20 years.

He says family and friends have been surprisingly supportive of his decision to become a priest.

“People might have issues with the Church, but they know me,” he said.

"Some people also might have an idea of what a priest must act like, or talk like, and then they see me in my runners, or out for a jog, and they realise that I’m just like them.” 

Sweeping changes to parish structures took effect in recent weeks, with many parishes amalgamating into ‘Families of Parishes’, and sharing resources, including the reduced number of priests.

In Cork and Ross alone, at least eight priests are set to retire from active ministry this year, with three more returning to their religious orders.

But earlier this year, two men embarked on the first stage of their journey to the priesthood, beginning a year of study in a college of initial formation in Spain.

And there were three Church of Ireland ordinations, Rev Jean Carney, Rev Carole Pound, and Rev Richard Dring, in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral last week for the Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.