Fr Stephen feels privileged to be ordained to the priesthood
Sunday was "a long time coming" for Tullycorbet native, Stephen Sherry, who was ordained into the priesthood by Bishop Larry Duffy in St Macartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan Town, to serve Clogher Diocese.
His ordination fell on Vocations Sunday, April 26, and speaking to The Anglo-Celt yesterday (Tuesday), a delighted Fr Stephen, said Sunday was the culmination of "many years of prayer and discernment".
"Thanks be to God, it was a marvellous, marvellous day,” he declared.
Having first felt "the call" when he was around 18, Fr Stephen said that he felt like a massive weight lift off his shoulders.
“Now I have the privilege of being a priest forever and that comes with great responsibility.”
Fr Stephen did not enter the seminary straight out of school. Instead, he was advised by his vocations director to go on to university and to continue to pray about God's call: “During that time, I considered: ‘Where is God calling me in life? Am I being called to the single life? Am I being called to marriage? Am I being called to religious life? Or maybe to being ordained as a priest? The more I discerned that call, the more I felt called to serving God as a priest in the Diocese of Clogher.”
Ordained a Deacon last June upon completion of his studies for the priesthood at St Patrick’s College Maynooth, Fr Stephen is currently serving in the Parish of Monaghan & Rackwallace and in the Parish of Roslea.
He is the son of Gerard and Laura Sherry.
Fr Stephen was asked about current vocations: “I think there are over 30 men currently studying in Maynooth for dioceses in Ireland. There are other men in different places also studying for dioceses in Ireland. I came into Maynooth just before COVID hit. So, I started in September and COVID came in March. We had a kind of a tumultuous first two years, like everyone else in the country did. We started with eight people and two of us now are being ordained. I was ordained and Deacon Tiernan Burke (Cloyne) will be ordained a priest at Pentecost.”
He reflected that an individual doesn’t go to seminary to be trained as a priest, rather to discern where God is leading you and to what God might be calling you. “No day in seminary is wasted. Those other men who didn't continue on with us, are now fulfilling their vocations as teachers and doing other work, all living lives of faith.”
He noted that falling attendance at Mass could be perceived as one of the challenges he will face as a priest, but added: “This could be seen as a challenge or reframed as an opportunity for ourselves and all the people of faith in Ireland to look at their relationship with God and the church.”
For the moment, Fr Stephen, who was still getting used to the title himself, said that he will remain on in the Parish of Monaghan as a Deacon. “I will be given an official appointment as a priest when in September, I haven't been told yet where that will be.”
The young priest is asking people to keep him in their prayers and to continue to pray for vocations.
The Ordaining Prelate last Sunday was Most Rev Lawrence Duffy, Bishop of Clogher.
Preaching the homily, Bishop Duffy said it was "a proud day" for the Christians of Tullycorbet and praised Fr Stephen for offering his life to God.
"In the age in which we live, a vocation to priesthood calls for deep faith and closeness to Christ," he said.
Other priests and deacons from the Diocese of Clogher and surrounding areas also participated in the various ministries.