A popular priest who is preparing to leave his senior role at Clonard in west Belfast has told how he hopes the iconic monastery and church will continue to be a "place of dialogue, hospitality and of risk-taking".
Fr Noel Kehoe, who has been Rector of Clonard since April 2015, said there is a "touch of sadness" as he approaches his final days at an "amazing place".
On arriving to take up the post, Fr Noel was the youngest member of the Redemptorist community at Clonard.
Now four years on, the 46-year-old Newry man is moving to Dundalk to take up the role of Administrator and Rector at St Joseph's Parish.
Fr Kehoe said his time at Clonard had changed him, describing it as a "significant training ground".
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"I didn’t really know Clonard before I came here, I thought I did," he said.
"Clonard is very famous but I'd never been based here before and one of the things that struck me was the dedication and commitment of so many people to the mission of Clonard.
"At times I'm really stunned at the goodness of people to members of the community, to myself personally, to different things and initiatives - people just went with them. The absolute commitment and the investment that people have in what Clonard is and what it stands for, its role in the wider community as a very significant spiritual home for many people."
Highlights from the past four years include the "joy and sense of goodwill" of the Christmas Masses at Clonard - attended by up to 9,000 people - as well as the generosity of those who support its activities.
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The Redemptorist said he was particularly moved when more than £70,000 was raised inside a week for a Syrian appeal and the response to the crib fundraising initiative, which supported several charities.
"You see it, you put it out there and people are just so unbelievably generous," he said.
"To me, it's not about the money, this is about people putting their faith into action, showing a deep concern.
"Clonard is a very significant platform in the Irish Church and we as the community and the co-workers and the team that work here, we can choose whether to use that platform for good and I think that's what we've tried to do over the last number of years. We use that profile to raise awareness over any justice issues both at home and abroad.
"I think life for everybody can be very difficult at times. When we use this profile to highlight what is going on in the world, you can develop this sense of solidarity."
The Co Down man said his time at Clonard has also had its challenges.
"One of the first great challenges for me was fairly early on when Fr Gerry Reynolds died," he said.
"That was a moment of real privilege of being with him as he died in the hospital, and a sense of that you have lived with a really good man, we lived in the midst of a mystic.
"What Fr Gerry Reynolds was, in many respects, (was) the memory of Clonard, he knew families going back, he had been here so long.
"I found that a huge challenge. How could you preserve the really important ministry of peace and reconciliation which is going to be one of the most important ministries we have moving into the future. Losing one of the great spiritual figures of Clonard, his great sense of community and friendship."
Fr Noel also spoke of the difficulty of seeing his Redemptorist friend Fr Michael Dempsey suffering a very serious and rare form of MS.
The popular 50-year-old became ill in August 2016 and been hospitalised ever since.
"Michael had just moved back from Mozambique," he said.
"When he came back, he was finding his feet again and had been here at Clonard. I invited him at that stage to consider the chaplaincy (at the Royal Victoria Hospital) because Michael had been a children’s nurse.
"Michel had really found his niche. He thrived with working in the hospital.
"Michael was my class mate. We joined the Redemptorists the same day. Even though our lives and ministries went to very different places, we found ourselves here. There’s a connection you have with the people you journeyed with. That really deeply affected me."
Looking towards the future, Fr Noel said he and the team at Clonard have been working to "develop a strategic direction".
"Things have to change," he said.
"Clonard is a very significant place and it has played a really important role in both the faith and social life of the community. There's no getting away from the fact that the number of Redemptorists is diminishing.
"How do we still offer quality service of ministry here in Clonard with an ageing community?
"We have to prepare for the future and put structures in place.".
Fr Noel said the Redemptorists, having worked all over the world, have seen "other models of the church that are sustainable and sometimes even more alive".
"That means we recognise the role of lay people by right of their baptism to also fulfil their call to be in ministry.
"Planning how can we maintain a good quality religious ministry here with five active Redemptorists and lay people working in complete partnership in ministry."
One change that has "worked extremely well" was the appointment of Tom Brady as church manager, a role traditionally held by a Redemptorist.
"We have different people working in youth ministry, ministries that are now at the core and the centre of what Clonard is to be in the future. We appointed a church ministry team... all roles that traditionally would have been held by Redemptorists.
"That’s the vision for planning for the future."
Fr Noel said the news from the Provincial Council that he was to be moved came as a surprise.
"It has taken me a little time to get my head around it. It wouldn't be unfair to say that I got a bit emotional.
"Clonard is an amazing place. It is also a very challenging place and when it comes to the moment you are asked to leave, you find you are much more emotionally attached to the people, the place and its mission."
Fr Noel will preach for the final time at Clonard on Sunday and Fr Peter Burns will be officially installed as the new rector on Sunday May 18.
He will then be installed as the new Adminsitrator and Rector of St Joseph's in Dundalk on Sunday May 25.
As he prepares to leave, Fr Noel said there is some sadness especially for "the people I work with most closely".
"My experience of people from Clonard is they say what they mean, there's a huge generosity, they would give you the shirt off their back, and if they don’t like what you are doing, they let you know. That all makes for an attachment that you are not even aware off until you find out you are leaving.
"I really do have a real sense of gratitude to God. I never expected to come to Clonard, it wasn't on my `to-do' list. It has changed me."
He added: "My hope for Clonard is that it doesn't get caught up in the glory of the past but it continues to chip away at the mission that has always been central to Clonard.
"Peace and reconciliation is an issue, much work still needs to be done in the wider community and my hope is it will continue to be that place of dialogue, of hospitality and of risk-taking that it’s always been."
