' .... In the parish of Cooley there is no
extensive
Catholic proprietor, no rich Catholic.
The in-
habitants of the district are simple
country
farmers, who have to work hard, and upon
the
fruits of their toil they must rely for
their sus-
tenance .....
I never yet appealed to my parishioners
that
I did not receive a generous response.
Last
year the weather was most unpropitious,
and
as a consequence the crops, generally
speaking
were very poor. Notwithstanding this
unfa-
vourable circumstance, the principal
farmers
of the parish blotted out a very
considerable
amount of debt, which I contracted with
them
in hurrying on the work of the church ....
During nine weeks before I was called
away [possibly 1873),
associated with my hard working curate,
the
Rev. Father Hugh Murphy, I went though
the
parish from house to house, soliciting
help for
the new church ....
‘First – .... I
went to Cooley on the 26th of
May, 1846, -
When I entered that parish I found three
Na-
tional Schools for the education of the
youth of
the parish; and that all the children of
the
parish might have the schools within a
con-
venient distant of their homes, I opened
at
subsequent periods two more schools. And
during my mission there I always felt it
to be
a most grave obligation to visit the
schools of
the parish. They were frequently visited
both
by the parish priest and the curate;
first to see
that all the children who ought to be in
atten-
dance were present; and secondly to see
that the teachers cons[c]ientiously
discharged their
duty towards the children by attending
both to
religious and secular instruction –
religious in-
structions so far as would be compatable
with
the regulations of the Board of
Education.
On Sundays and holidays I endeavoured to
secure
as large an attendance of the children
of the parish to receive instruction in
the Christian doctrine as I possibly
could, keep-
ing always before the minds of parents
their
obligation with regard to their
children, and
the rigorous account they will one day
have
to render as to whether they observed or
ne-
glected their duty on this head. So far
for the
youth of the parish.
Secondly _ As a rule, on Sundays and
holi-
days generally speaking in conne[ct]ion
with the
gospel or epistle of the day, I
endeavoured to
direct the attention of the flock to a
consider-
ation of some one or other of the great
truths
of religion, teaching them what they
were
bound to believe, and what they were
bound
to practice, that they might one day be
found
worthy of the great end for which God
called
man from nothing into being; and with
this
view, I always urged the necessity of
daily
prayer, assisting at Mass on Sundays and
fes-
tival days; frequenting in sickness and
in
health the Sacrament of Penance and the
Holy Eucharist; and when not otherwise
em-
ployed, you remember how I have often
gone
from townland to townland, and from
house
to house, making strict enquiries, and
pressing
the people to come in to their religious
duties,
and imploring those who had already
complied
to lend a helping hand in the glorious
work of
saving souls.
From time to time I pointed out the
stumb-
ling-blocks which the enemy would never
fail
to place in their path, but which they
should
struggle to surmount, or otherwise
expose them-
selves to the imminent risk of being
lost for
ever. And here, my dearest friends you
can
easily call to mind my frequent
exhortations
against the sins of drunkeness,
desecration of
the Sabbath, secret societies, secret
company
keeping, and upon the frightful crime of
en-
tering into the marriage state without
due pre-
paration.
Third, .... our churches are the
dwelling places of God upon earth. In
our
churches God is present. There He
receives
the worship of his people, and there He
dis-
penses His favours. Therefore, I have
laboured
hard, and made great sacrifices, that
the parish
might be furnished with churches in some
measure suited to the sacred purpose for
which
they are set apart and consecrated.
1st –
When I went to Cooley I
found one
old church in the townland of Irish
Grange;
that church was then in poor condition;
but since then, through the generous aid
of
the people of the parish, it has been
renovated,
and although rather plain as to the
exterior,
in the interior it deserves to be
classified
amongst the most comfortable country
churches
in the entire diocese.
2nd –
On going to that
parish, I found in
the mountain district a wretched
mud-wall
thatched cabin as a place of public
worship;
whereas, at the present moment, there
stands
in that district a very fine Gothic
church, ac-
cording to the design of J.J. McCarthy,
Esq,
architect, Dublin. But when and how was
that church erected? It was erected at
a time
when all Ireland, from end to end, but
in a
special manner the parish of Cooley, was
suf-
fering grievously from the potato
disease. After
long struggling I was only able to
realise in
the district where the church now
stands, the
small sum of £44. And having got so much
I then travelled from town to town
almost
throughout the entire kingdom, and when
my
health gave way, and I became unable to
go
abroad, during a period of ten years of
suffer-
ing and infirmity, year after year, by
little
and little, as well as my very slender
means
could afford, I advanced with the work,
and I
never halted until I succeeded in
bringing that
church to its present condition.
3rd
–
On the opposite extreme
of the parish,
when I first entered Cooley, there was
no
church whatsoever; during upwards of
forty
years every Sunday and holiday Mass was
celebrated in a small kitchen of a
farmer's
house; the great bulk of the
congregation, in
summer and winter, were obliged during
the
celebration of Divine worship, to remain
with
uncovered heads in the open air;
whereas, at
the present moment, there is in that
same dis-
trict one of the finest country churches
in all
Ireland. This church was also designed
by the
talented architect whose name I have
already
given. But for the accomplishment of
this
task, what was required? First the
contri-
bution of the people of the parish; The
par-
ishioners contributed most generously;
indeed,
I believe, considering their
circumstances in life,
no people, in Ireland contributed more,
nor per-
haps so much. But notwithstanding their
gener-
osity, yet more was still required, and
therefore
I travelled the greater part of Ireland
a second
time, and a small portion of England and
Scot-
land, but almost entirely amongst the
Irish
labourers; and lastly, as far as I was
able, by
money and by own personal sacrifice,
that is
by sufferings and humiliations of all
sorts, from
the commencement until very lately, as
long
as the interests of the Church required
it, I
never for one moment thought of sparing
the parish priest.
And now I will sum up; churches
being
once sufficiently provided; to offer the
holy
sacrifice of the Mass for his flock, to
pray for
them, to administer the Sacraments when
and
where, and as often as the ordinance of
God
and His Church require, to dispense the
Word
of God, to provide for and to watch over
the
education of the youth of the parish,
and to
stand incessantly upon the watch, and
cry out,
warning the people at the approach of
danger, these I believe, are to be
considered
amongst the most prominent duties of a
parish
priest; and aided as I trust, by Divine
grace,
these duties I have endeavoured to
perform. ....'
