At Assembly this week, Fr Martin introduced Fr Cathal Deery. Fr Cathal is from County Monaghan in Ireland and is based at St Theresa’s Parish, Windsor, Invercargill for 4 months until early January in a swap with Father Brendan Ward who has gone to work in his Parish in Ireland.Fr Cathal has been a Priest for the last 15 years, all of which have been spent in various Parishes in his local diocese of Clogher. His hometown of Monaghan is in the Irish Republic but just a few minutes drive from the border with Northern Ireland. His diocese covers an area in both the North and the Republic.
Father Brendan and I have arranged this swap so that we can both gain some experience of working in the church in a different country. My experience so far at St Theresa has been very positive – people have made me very welcome and I have enjoyed meeting so many people of Irish descent. I am chaplain to St Theresa’s primary school and my experience so far indicates that the New Zealand and Irish school systems are very similar. Likewise the secondary school systems have many things in common also. I know that my four months here is relatively short but it will give me a great insight into the New Zealand life and culture.
