Parishioners here will know that in recent times Fr Ray usually occupied a seat over there in the sanctuary for Mass as often as he was able to. Illness slowed him down, but it never kept him late. He would always be there in good time, and would have said at least a rosary before the time for Mass came. We know that he is still very near to us as we celebrate this Mass for him today. Our faith in the Communion of Saints tells us that he is praying with us and for us as we offer this Mass for him.
At this time of grief and loss for Fr Ray’s family and friends, the words of Jesus in the Gospel today offer hope and consolation. Jesus came to sympathise with Martha and Mary on the death of their brother, Lazarus. They had sent for him when Lazarus fell ill, but he didn’t get there in time. We can hear the pain and grief in the words of Martha when she meets Jesus, ‘If you had been here my brother would not have died’. It’s the kind of ‘if only’ we have often heard or spoken ourselves in circumstances like this. But Jesus words in reply go away beyond conventional sympathy. They open up an entirely new vista of hope: ‘Your brother will rise again… I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.’
That is an extraordinary statement – we hear it so often that it can easily pass over us. ‘If anyone believes in me, even though he dies, he will live’. But that is the promise of Jesus. That goes to the heart of our faith. We believe that Jesus died and was raised to life. His resurrection conquered death forever. Our faith in the resurrection is the foundation of our Christian lives. It is the basis of our hope that death is not the end, but the doorway to a new and glorious life with God. It is our assurance that one day, when we too pass through that doorway into eternal life, we will be reunited once more in heaven with all those we have loved and lost.
That faith was certainly the foundation of Fr Ray’s Christian life which began here in Cavan when he was baptised in the old Cathedral near where we are now. The new Cathedral must have looked fresh and resplendent when he was confirmed here some years later. When he finished his term in the De La Salle school, now St Felim’s, he went to St Patrick’s College, and from there he went to Maynooth to study for the priesthood. He was ordained priest in 1963 and, like many of us at that time, spent his first years as a priest on the teaching staff of St Patrick’s College. I came to know him there as a man of enormous talents and wide interests, literature, music, theology, sport of every kind, from GAA to golf, from horse racing to rugby. He was a very gifted teacher – mainly of English – and also a talented producer of stage shows, but above all he was a wonderfully entertaining and engaging colleague, companion and friend.
He moved on from teaching after 11 years to take up the role of Diocesan Advisor on Religious Education for schools. While in that role he was given the task of writing an entirely new programme in religious education for second level schools throughout the country. It was a mammoth task and one that called for an exceptional range of knowledge and experience. Fr Ray rose to the challenge magnificently and the result was the Christian Way series which served a generation of students and teachers in the 80s and 90s.
When a vacancy arose for the post of Director of the Mount Oliver Catechetical Centre, Fr Ray was the obvious choice to fill it and he remained in that position until he returned to pastoral ministry in the diocese in 1988. He served first as curate in Shercock, then parish priest Killinkere and later in Castletara. He remained as parish priest in Ballyhaise until his retirement to Cavan in 2011.
Fr Ray excelled in all the diverse ministries he exercised, whether as teacher, RE Advisor, author, pastor, preacher. Whatever he was doing there was one common thread running through it all – his passion for communicating the message of Jesus in a way people could understand and relate to. During those years in parish ministry he wrote many articles for the pastoral review, the Furrow. He also began to write a popular weekly column for the Anglo-Celt. He created the alter ego Theo to help him tease out a Christian response to the kind of topical questions a thinking person might be asking, and he kept that going single-handed for several years. For a priest who had all but finished his training before the Second Vatican Council began, he had an exceptional understanding of its teaching and an unwavering commitment to its vision for the Church.
Sadly, he was struck by illness soon after his retirement. His life became a constant round of scans and treatments and more scans, a rollercoaster of hopes and disappointments and new hopes. But he endured it all with remarkable courage and patience. There were three things that sustained Fr Ray through the years of illness. They were faith, family and friends. His deep faith and his reliance on prayer enabled him to remain cheerful and optimistic against all the odds and in the end he accepted the inevitable with great serenity and dignity. He was blessed with having a family around him who gave him enormous love and support, and were always available to attend to his needs. And he had a wonderful circle of friends.
As we say farewell to Fr Ray, we thank God again for his faith, his fidelity and for all whose lives were touched for good by his priestly ministry. And we pray that he is now at peace.
On behalf of all of us I offer to Sheila, Maurice and Kathleen and their family, and all Fr Ray’s nieces and nephews, relatives and friends, our deepest sympathy, and the support of our prayers in the weeks and months ahead. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.