Fr Tom Kearns OP
Settling into his new surroundings on Kenneth Street this week is Father Tom Kearns, the new parish priest at Our Holy Redeemer Catholic Parish, in Stornoway.
Father Kearns (65) replaces Father Paul Hackett, who has moved to Oban to become a priest of the cathedral there.
A native of County Kildare, near Dublin, Father Kearns joined the priesthood in 1991, studying at Oxford. “Once I was ordained I served as university chaplain at the University of Edinburgh for eight years, before spending the last three-and-a-half years at Newcastle-upon-Tyne,” he said. “That couldn’t have been more of a contrast from here in Stornoway,” he smiled. “The church in Newcastle was the biggest in the city, very ornate and beautiful, built in the 19th century, whereas here I have found dust and ashes because the church has burned down!”
Likewise, his new congregation is markedly different; in Newcastle he regularly preached to 400 of a congregation, while here in Stornoway around 70 parishioners attend weekly mass. On leaving school, it was accountancy which appealed to the young Tom Kearns.
“I became an accountant and spent my time auditing, some of it in London,” he said. “I was one of the great swingers in the 60s in London, which was a great time. Later on I specialised in taxation and returned to Ireland. I became a tax adviser to individuals, which was relatively new to Ireland. I almost got married at least once, but found myself at 40, unmarried, and wondering what I was doing with my life. I realised that life was passing me by, and I was being selfish, making as much money as I possibly could, helping other wealthy people pay as little tax as the law compelled them to. If I had been supporting a family that would have been fine, but on my own it seemed a bad way to live and that’s what made me think about becoming a priest.”
On discovering that he was not too old to join the priesthood, Father Kearns followed his heart and turned his back on the financial lure of accountancy and taxation.
“I had thought about it in my youth, but hesitated for some time. I took the plunge, which was very difficult for me, but I never wanted to turn back once I had started on that path, because I knew the Lord wanted me to go along that way, wherever it led me,” he said. Having made his choice and stuck to it, the amiable priest has no regrets.
He commented: “I feel very happy now because as a priest I have found it a privilege to help people in all kinds of ways. People will speak to priests about all kinds of problems, and my experiences in the outside world have been of immense help. Shortly after my ordination I was diagnosed with bowel cancer and I had major surgery for that, along with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. My chances of survival were one in five, but I have never had any recurrence. That, as well as my own faith and getting life in a proper perspective, has helped me when dealing with people who themselves are ill. If you have been through that, you are well placed to accompany people along their own particular paths.”
Of the challenges that lay ahead, Father Kearns said that the most immediate was rebuilding the church in Stornoway, which was razed to the ground by fire in November last year. “But more important than that is to build up the community,” he said.
“A new priest coming in will bring his own personality and approach to things, and my approach is always to build up the community. I have noticed already a very strong community spirit here, and not just among the Catholics. I would like to see myself as making a contribution to the whole community. I am quite sure I will make some very good friends here in Stornoway.”
While the redevelopment of the church takes place, Sunday Mass is being held in the Activities Room of the Grianan Centre.
“We are very lucky to be able to hire that building while our own is being repaired,” said Father Kearns. Although there were lonely aspects to being a priest, he said did not feel particularly isolated in his chosen profession. “Of course there are lonely elements to being a priest,” he reflected. “If people come and unload and unburden themselves of their deep problems, you receive that in total confidence. You cannot go to a wife, or anybody else, not even another priest. I find that can be burdensome, because even though I have only been a priest since 1991 I have been through a thicket of some terrible confidences. That can be very lonely, but I suppose it is similar in that a doctor could not share confidences either. It could be very lonely but I certainly won’t allow that to happen.”
Admitting that he loves to socialise, he said: “If anyone on the island wants to invite me to a party they will make a friend for life!” Added Father Kearns: “I have only been here for a week and already I am in love with the place.
“If ever the time comes for me to part with the islands, I am sure it will be too soon.”
Reproduced with the kind persmission of the Stornoway Gazette.