Called to the church: ‘I broke her heart but I felt I could do more for people by being a priest’

No one could accuse Fr Tiernan Burke of rushing into the priesthood or of doing so having little experience of the “outside” world with its slings and arrows.Recently appointed to the parish in Cobh, the 41-year-old was one of just two priests ordained from the seminary at St Patrick’s College in Maynooth this year. The other was 30-year-old Fr Stephen Sherry of Clogher diocese, which covers mostly Co Monaghan.Ordained last May, Burke is the second-youngest priest in Cloyne; he’s a year older than the youngest there, Fr Damien Lynch.READ MOREAlmost two decades ago, the then 23-year-old Burke had his own house in Whitechurch, Co Cork, where he grew up. It was “bought at the height of the boom, in 2008, just before the crash”, and a hefty mortgage meant working “seven days a week”.The crash led to changes at Roche’s Costcutter shop and petrol station in Whitechurch, where he had worked since he was in secondary school. [ ‘My proposal was to stop Confirmation’: Ireland’s ageing priests under pressure as numbers dropOpens in new window ]“We diversified. We converted our storeroom into a bakery, and I started baking. It was very successful. I built up a very good reputation,” he says.While at secondary school in Carrignavar, he worked part-time baking and afterwards while studying hotel management at the Cork Institute of Technology (now Munster Technological University) which he calls “three fantastic years”.Then, too, he was in “a very close friendship with a lady for about 10 years”, he says. She was from Cork city, and they met at Turner’s Cross through the Caring And Sharing Association (Casa), a volunteer-led group that helps people with disabilities.“I always had priesthood at the back to my mind so I didn’t want to commit to anything,” he says. Scandals in the Catholic Church had put him off, along with the lengthy seven-year formation period required of priests.When he decided on the priesthood, his girlfriend “was very upset”. “I broke her heart, you could say, and I was heartbroken too, but I felt that I could do more for other people by being a priest,” he says.A few months later she was diagnosed with liver and pancreatic cancer. “There had been no real signs,” he says. “Within 2½ weeks she was gone. I spent the last 15 days with her in the hospital. At that stage you’re praying to God to take her, to save her from the suffering that she was going to have. It was very hard.”He returned to his priestly training “with an even more broken heart – I suppose it’s then you realise how much you love someone”. Burke feels he brings “an awful lot” to the priesthood having experienced that grief.He remains “very good friends” with the woman’s family, who attended his ordination.Burke traces his calling to the priesthood back to his time serving as an altar boy at his local St Patrick’s Church in Whitechurch, where his grandaunt was a sacristan.“I loved the faith. When the priest was on the altar celebrating Mass, I could imagine myself doing that,” he says.[ ‘People have been stranded here for decades’: Limerick priest helps undocumented Irish in New YorkOpens in new window ]After finishing as an altar server, he took over as assistant sacristan.“So I never left the church,” he says.He believes his faith came from his parents. His father and mother raised four children. A pivotal moment behind his decision to become priest was the 2017 ordination of his neighbour John Magner – a widower then 70 years old and with two grown-up daughters. “I know him all my life,” he says. The ordination was “the most powerful event I was ever at”. The die was cast.He went to see his parish priest, who said: “I know why you’re here.”The numbers joining the Catholic priesthood in Ireland remain small.Just 15 men began their training for the priesthood this month. It brings to 74 the number of seminarians studying to serve as priests in Irish dioceses.In addition, 51 seminarians are studying in Maynooth and at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Dundalk. A further eight are studying on the Continent.[ ‘It happened before’: Irish-based priest unperturbed after excommunication by VaticanOpens in new window ]As part of Burke’s journey to the priesthood, he carried out chaplaincy work at the Mater hospital in Dublin, bringing him into a situation where he had to deal with abuse.“I was going around in my normal clothes and introduced myself as a student chaplain, and I was told to `f**k off!’ because I ‘was a paedophile’,” he says.He insists “it didn’t hurt because it prepared you for what’s ahead” and drew more from the pastoral work, which was “just powerful, meeting the sick and dying”, he says.On another occasion, while serving in Youghal, Co Cork, en route to Mass he met a woman who said she had met many people who had been abused by priests and nuns.“This had turned her away from her faith. After our conversation, she came to Mass one morning to see me. I met her several times after that. When she had an operation, I checked in with her, and she was very appreciative of the prayers,” he says.In general, he finds people “very welcoming, very respectful”.Acknowledging the many problems facing the church, he says: “I only can do what I can do. You help as much as you can in whatever parish you’re going to be [in], minister the best you can.”