A Tribute to Father Tony King

by Tommy Quinn

on  behalf of the People of Athenry parish

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Your Grace, Reverend Fathers, Sisters, Ladies and Gentlemen,

On the occasion of his retirement as Parish Priest of Athenry, it is my privilege and pleasure to publicly acknowledge the tremendous work, both spiritual and temporal, that Canon Tony King has given to our parish.

Lady’s Well

 On a personal level my first meeting with him shortly after his arrival in 1993 was to discus Lady’s Well. Right throughout his ministry here in Athenry the Well and its care held a special place in his heart.

On-going Person

 My first impression of him was that he was an outgoing person who wanted above all to reach out to people and assist them in the ups and downs of their daily lives. He was and is a people’s priest and he proved that over the years by visiting every house in the parish. He’s a very attentive listener to what people say and a keen and perceptive observer of daily life in this parish.

Deeply Spiritual Man

 During my lifetime, parishioners have been blessed with the caring, kind and compassionate clergy, parish priests and curates, that have served them spiritually both individually and collectively. Canon Tony followed in that tradition. He’s a deeply spiritually man who tends to his duties with diligence and dedication. Many persons and families can testify to this, especially in the way he visited, on a regular basis, the sick at home and in hospital. His presence and caring attitude meant a lot to those the ill persons and members of their families.

Birthplace

 His birth place of Cleggan near Clifden wouldn’t be a strong hurling area and neither would Westport where he served for 23 years. But his arrival here in 1993 coincided with the beginning of the rise of St. Mary’s GAA to be, in a short few years, one of the greatest hurling clubs of all time. He became very familiar with Croke Park supporting St. Mary’s as they dominated the All Ireland Club Championship during that golden era. He also became an expert on Homecoming speeches as he delighted in welcoming our hurlers in the town’s medieval square to the cheers of the club’s supporters.

Not all Prayers

 It wasn’t all prayers with him. When he saw a real concrete need he did something about. He was instrumental in the provision of the walkway between the church and Fahy’s supermarket, the development of the car park in front of the Presentation Sisters convent and his own house, the re-roofing of the Church of the Assumption and the redesigning of the altar of Newcastle church and the erection of our Pastoral Centre.

Of course, and he will be the first to acknowledge it, that these projects could only have been brought to fruition through the generosity of the people of the parish. There has always been a wonderful tradition of generosity in this parish and long may it continue

The P e n

 It is said that the pen is mightier than the sword and he used the latter to great effect in his sermons and in articles that he wrote for the Athenry Journal and The Athenry News and Views. He was an Editor’s dream in that he delivered his articles always before the deadline thereby stemming the growth of grey hairs in the heads of the Editors of both publications.

He used both publications well to promote the values of the Gospel and to educate the people in their faith. In a recent article he stated “that for most adults their spiritual formation and knowledge has been at starvation level since their school days. For many there is a thirst and hunger to discover some suitable way to find bread. In this Year of Faith here is a challenge for us in our parish. It is his hope that St. Mary’s Pastoral Centre will provide a modest and comfortable setting to respond to this need”.

An Approachable Person

 Canon Tony is a very approachable person with a very human touch. Coming from a family that operated a small grocery business he would understand very well the difficulties being experienced by many small enterprises in these recessionary times. In practical shopping terms he gave each a turn in his own effort to support the Shop Local Campaign.

School’s B.O.M>

 Since the middle 1990’s, like parish priests throughout the country, he has experienced a massive explosion in the local population. This resulted in personal pressure to provide spiritual services for these new parishioners and extra and additional educational school space for their children. To that end, Canon Tony together with school boards of managements have provided building and playground extensions to all parish primary schools. This is no mean feat in these difficult financial times

Force of Encouragement

 I’ve never met his parents but they must have been people of encouragement as they passed on that attitude to him. As he wrote recently: “If it’s worth a try, give it a go. Have afterthoughts beforehand”. Down through the years he has been a great force of encouragement to individuals and groups, urging them to look to the future with hope and conviction in their abilities to achieve their objectives. And in saying that he has given a practical and helping hand to those same people.

Pastoral Council

As regards our Pastoral Council Canon Tony was and is anxious to enhance its role now and for the future. With the decrease in the numbers of priests expected to continue for quite some time it is imperative that the laity be encouraged to play a full part in promoting the Gospel’s values in their Church. Recently, a new Pastoral Council came into being in our parish. The members are young, enthusiastic and dynamic and with co-operation and good will it can be a vital force for spiritual goodness in the years ahead.

Thanks

 Canon Tony, we thank you most sincerely for all your work and endeavours for the parish ofthenry. We are sad to see you take your leave of us. You depart a parish that has grown and developed and that has a tremendous future if we have the same vision and commitment as you had when you first arrived 20 years ago.

 We wish you every blessing and warm good wish for health, happiness and enjoyment for your retirement.

Your future challenge now is the lower your golf handicap on the course on the shores Clew Bay.