22nd July 1999
Fr.Vincent Hodnett talks
to
Douglas Weekly
I was born on the l9th of July 1945, and today happens to be my birthday, at that time and I was obviously called Vincent. In fact I was called Charles Vincent because my father was called Charles. Some years later the saints were moved around some even disbanded and St. Vincent de Paul was moved to September. I went to the convent school in Roscarbery up to the first communion class and from there graduated to the boys school. In 1958 I went to Farran Ferris college in Cork where I began my secondary education and had six good years and also six hard years. I suppose the highlight there for me was winning the Harty and All Ireland in 1963. I went to Rome to begin my studies for the priesthood.
What influenced me?
I suppose there were many influences in
so far as I had a wonderful mother and father, I had a great
parish priest Fr. Patrick Cahalane and I also had an uncle a
priest in Scotland I suppose with all these things there was
always prayer and love in our home in Roscarbery. I grew up in a
public house where I worked during the summer. My father worked
in the local creamery and the public house was run by my mother.
I have one sister Mary, who is married in Skibereeen. In fact her
son was playing with Cork minors yesterday in the Munster
Championship, Donal O’Sullivan. I also have a brother Con
who is married in Kenmare. The baby of the family is John who is
in our homeplace and he is married to Mary who comes from
Kilnamartyra and they have five children. Life was hard, despite
the fact that we were brought up in a public house because again
it was a small pub and a family and lovely run pub. I certainly
enjoyed my young days. We were lucky to be born in such a lovely
village. We had some beautiful beaches near Roscarbery, where we
spent our summers. At that time we had’nt even sandbuckets
but we were able to amuse ourselves and even spend days at the
beaches. In 1964 as I said I went to Rome to study for the
priesthood and it was a great honour for me to have been asked by
the late Bishop Lucey to go to Rome. It wasn’t the first
time obviously that I left home because I had left home to begin
my secondary education in Farran Ferris and I suppose looking
back I missed out to a certain extent because of missing the love
of parents and also the family spirit and the community in which
I grew up. a lovely community in Roscarbery. We were allowed home
each summer. The time in Rome was hard enough because again it
was coming to the end of the Vatican council and there were lots
of changes taking place and at the same time we hadn’t a
whole lot of freedom out of college. We attended the Latern
University form 8 o’clock and 12 o’clock and our
evenings were free to play games, to visit countless historical
sights and monuments in Rome itself and also our period of study
and prayer. And after six years I was ordained for the dioceses
of Cork and Ross and at that time with so many priests available
to the dioceses the five of us ordained were sent to London. I
was appointed to a parish St. Gabriels on the Holloway Road with
a very famous parish priest, Fr. Tom McNamara who did an awful
lot of work for the Irish Centre and for the Irish people,
because at that time emigration was very high. I spent five years
in Denis Monsignior, Micheal Daly, An Tather Sean McCarrig and
John Shorten and I felt I could have spent the rest of my life in
Togher because of the wonderful community and the wonderful
people in that parish. But yet, when I was moved to Bantry in
1982 after some months. I felt that well five or six years in any
Parish is sufficient. One needs a fresh challenge and I took up
that challenge in Bantry in 1982. Again a lovely Parish, lovely
people and I worked there until 1988. In 1988 Bishop Murphy told
me that he had a challenge and I asked him what was the challenge
and he said I want to appoint you as Chaplain in the
Cork University Hospital then known as the Regional Hospital. At
that time I said to him I was too old for a challenge. but he
said no. So I began in 1988 and I spent eight very happy years
there.
Unfortunately during that time my father
died in 1990, and my mother died having been a patient in the
Regional Hospital in 1993. I never worked as hard as I did there.
I often use the words that I enjoyed my eight years in the
Regional Hospital. Enjoy is not a word that you use about your
time in a hospital. But I learned an awful lot about my self,
because of the clinical pastoral education course which I did
after three months there and above all I learned an awful lot
from patients. Again as in all the other Parish’s I felt
that I could spend the rest of my time there, but looking back
eight years was nearly too long in that hospital. In 1996 I was
appointed as curate here in Douglas. Looking back over three
years I thoroughly enjoyed every day I spent here in this parish,
and a wonderful community to work in and to work with.
Unfortunately my time has come to move and now I’m appointed
as Parish Priest in Blackpool Parish. I have great love for the
Eucharist. and celebration of the Eucharist with the people at
the weekends and also during the week.
.... Continued next week.
