'They were cut from the same cloth' - families remember victims of Monkstown bus tragedy
Family and friends follow the coffin of Father Con Cronin as it is taken from St Joseph's Church, Coomhola, Co Cork, following his funeral. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire
The bus tragedy which claimed two lives in Cork Harbour last week was described as a nightmare people can’t wake from as both victims were buried.
Bus Éireann driver Mark Wills, 53, from Ballincollig, was remembered as a devoted and loving father, and a loyal friend and colleague who put his life on the line during the pandemic to serve others.
And later, mourners at the funeral for Fr Con Cronin, 72, from the Borlin Valley in Bantry, and who served as curate in Passage West since 2012, were told that his last act was to push his friend to safety - symbolic of a life lived for others.
Mr Wills, a father of two, died on Tuesday while driving the 216 bus from Monkstown to Cork University Hospital.
Gardaí believe he may have suffered a medical trauma, such as a heart attack, seconds before losing control of the vehicle on the Strand Road in Monkstown, which then struck and fatally injured Fr Cronin as he crossed the road with a friend. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.
Due to current government guidelines, both funerals were held privately on Saturday.
Fr Cronin’s funeral was celebrated in St Joseph's Church in Coomhola, Bantry - a church he chose himself last year when the Kiltegan Fathers updated their funeral wishes early in the pandemic. It was the church where he was baptised, received his First Holy Communion and celebrated his first Mass after his ordination in 1979.
Mourners were led by his brother, Teddy and sisters-in-law, Margaret and Mary. They were joined by chief celebrant, Bishop Fintan Gavin, parish priest of Cork Harbour parishes, Fr Sean O’Sullivan, Fr Tomás O'Connor of St Patrick's Missionary Society, by Fr Cronin's former classmate, Fr Kieran Murphy, by the Bishop of Meath, Tom Deenihan, a friend of the Cronin family, by Canon Martin O'Driscoll and Fr John Heinhold, while Fr John Galvin, was among the almost 17,000 people who watched online.
Fr O’Connor told mourners that Fr Cronin’s last act was to push his friend to safety.
“This was brought home very powerfully when his last act was to push his friend out of the path of the bus, thus saving her life,” Fr Tomás said.
“His was a life lived for others. He would give you the shirt off his back. He knew how to make friends, and more importantly how to hold on to friends.
Creed, race, gender or colour were not important to him. He treated everyone as an individual and helped everyone to be their true selves."
Bishop Gavin spoke of the sense of shock in Monkstown, Passage West, Ballincollig and in Bantry since news of the tragic accident emerged and said it’s like a bad dream.
“Unfortunately it is not a dream we can wake up from,” he said.
He said many people had been touched by Fr Cronin’s life and his ministry and messages of sympathy have poured in from all over the world, including from the Papal Nuncio, and from the bishop of the Minna diocese in Nigeria which Fr Cronin helped establish during his near 25-years in West Africa.
Gifts brought to the altar to reflect Fr Cronin’s love of communication included a radio, which served as his connection to the outside world during his time in West Africa, a pen and paper, to symbolise his love of letter writing, and his mobile phone.
In a statement afterwards, Fr Cronin’s family paid tribute to the people of the harbour parishes for their love and support.
“We as a family always felt that Con was a legend, a man that represented so much of the good in this world," they said.
“But this week, as we joined Con for his last goodbye to the parishes that he called home for the last decade, it was apparent to us that your loss was as great if not greater than ours.
“We cannot thank you enough for the outpouring of love we felt from the thousands of men, women and children that lined the streets of the harbour parishes to say goodbye.
“We would like to thank each of you for welcoming him in and making him feel at home.
"He loved each of you and the time he spent there.
“The loss is great but the legacy is greater. Con was so much more than his duties. He was a warrior for Christ and arrives home bearing the marks and scars of a hero.”
Earlier, Bishop Gavin and Fr O’Sullivan had offered their condolences to Mr Wills’ family, including his children, Cillian and Rebecca, his parents, Stephen and Madelene, and his siblings, Gwen, his twin brother Stephen, Brian and Ken, at the church of St Mary and St John in Ballincollig.
Brian thanked the emergency services, his brother’s Bus Eireann colleagues, especially Rob McSweeney, Michael Travers, Willie O’Callaghan, and people from all over Ireland for the outpouring of kindness and support.
"It has carried us through," he said.
He remembered Fr Cronin’s family and friends, the people of Passage West and Monkstown, and said Mark and Fr Con were probably cut from the same cloth and would have gotten on well together.
“He has left us with cherished memories that we will keep forever with love, sadness and smile,” he said.
And he told Cillian and Rebecca that their dad adored them and loved them with all his heart.
“We can’t imagine the pain and heartache you are both feeling at the moment,” he said.
“You both have so much ahead of you, so many wonderful moments and milestones you both will have, and we are so sad your dad will not be here to share those moments.
“But one thing we do know is that all of us, your dad’s best friends who are all here, all our families, we are all here for ye, no matter what. Your dad is your dad, that love, that bond will never fade.”
And Cillian said he hopes his dad is proud of him and his sister.
"We are proud of him. We are going to be strong for him. That’s what he’d want,” he said.
Chief celebrant, Fr Cian O’Sullivan, hailed Mr Wills' bravery and patience as a bus driver, for putting his life at risk by continuing to work during the pandemic.
“Bus drivers welcome people into their bus as they take them on the next part of their journey," he said.
"We may not know where Mark is going but we do believe because of our faith that Mark has reached heaven and is joined by those that have gone before him.”
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