08.07.2024
‘Heartened by the sense of hospitality, service and mission’ – Meet the New Curate of Kilternan
The Revd Caroline Brennan was ordained to the Priesthood in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on Sunday 23 June 2024 by Archbishop Michael Jackson. Here, she writes about her experience as an Intern Deacon in Monkstown Parish and her hopes for her Curacy in Kilternan Parish.
Just one week on from my ordination as priest, I am settling into my new role as curate assistant in the parish of Kilternan. Our living room at home is still festooned with a selection of greeting cards: Ordination cards, Thank You cards, Goodbye and Good Luck cards. Home is for now, Ballinteer, where I live with my husband David and our son Oscar, who is 12. I am slow to remove the recent accumulation of greeting cards as they are a tender reminder of the blessings of a life lived in church community. In the coming days, when the time comes to remove these mementoes from the sideboard where they are currently displayed, they will be stored lovingly in a memory box – perhaps for myself to rediscover at a later stage in my ministry or maybe even for others to discover in generations to come.
I have been truly blessed to serve my deacon year in the parish of Monkstown. It has been a time of profuse growth in terms of both my own personal and spiritual development. I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor than my training rector, Canon Roy Byrne, whose spirit of compassion and kindness imbues all aspects of worship and community at Monkstown parish.
There were lots of ‘firsts’ throughout my deacon year: first baptism, first Advent, first Christmas, first Lent and first Easter. It was also the first time I had to say goodbye to a parish where I was embedded in a clerical role. I had not anticipated just how heart–wrenching that final departure from Monkstown parish would be. I am reminded however of the teachings of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Saint Luke (9:62): “No one, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
And so, it is with a slightly complex set of emotions that I approach the first few days of my curacy in Kilternan parish – sad, to be severed from my previous role as deacon intern amongst the people of Monkstown and equally, excited, to take the next tentative steps into this new stage of ordained ministry. I am already so encouraged by the warm reception I have received from the ministerial team and parish community at Kilternan. There is a palpable vibrancy here which is quite simply infectious. I am immediately heartened by the enormous sense of hospitality, service and mission within my new faith community nestled at the foot of the Wicklow mountains. I feel utterly blessed to be able to observe and learn from the leadership skills of the Rector, the Reverend Rob Clements. Likewise, I feel utterly blessed and privileged to be able to share this next phase of my discipleship journey with the people of Kilternan parish.
As I begin the first year of a three–year curacy, I am mindful that spiritual growth is something that can only occur in relationship with God and at the discretion of God. In all the excitement of starting into this new role as curate and in the context of all the new responsibilities this entails, I know that I need to remain constantly attentive to God at work in my life or, more specifically – I need to constantly attend to God in my life. The path ahead is challenging but I remain anchored in the declarations I made on the day of my ordination to the priesthood: ‘By the help of God, I will.’ Thus, I am strengthened by the one who has called me. Likewise, I know that I am fully supported by those amongst whom I now joyously and humbly serve.
Rev. Caroline Brennan July 2024