Fr Liam Rigney bids farewell to Kildare parishes

FR LIAM Rigney or to give him his correct title Canon Rigney, a title he did not use, spoke from the edge of the chancel at 12 o’clock Mass on Sunday in St Michael’s Parish Church to say goodbye to his parishioners who have shared their spiritual life with him for the previous nine years.

At 69 years of age, he has transferred to the town of Wicklow which like so many other parishes of the Dublin Archdiocese, includes three parishes.

As parish priest at St Michael’s, Athy Fr Liam had multi-parish responsibility not only for the town parish of St Michael’s but also Moone and Narraghmore.

Fr Liam, and I will refer to him as such and not as Canon Liam for the remainder of this article, was born in Dublin on the 5 June 1951.

He was ordained for the priesthood on the 6 June 1981 by Archbishop Diarmuid Ryan in the Church of St Laurence O’Toole, Seville Place, Dublin.

His initial appointment was as a priest-teacher in the vocational schools of Blackrock and Stillorgan.

While undergoing studies in UCD from 1984 to 1991, he was priest and chaplain in Mount Merrion from 1984 to 1987, chaplain in Mountjoy Prison for two years from 1991 and Chaplain in Arbour Hill Prison from 1993 to 1994.

Appointed as curate in North William Street in 1995 following a year sabbatical, he remained in that position for seven years before being appointed administrator of North William Street in 2002 before being appointed parish priest of Maynooth in 2007. He came to Athy in 2017.

Fr Liam followed a long list of clergymen in Athy, starting back as far as Fr John Fitzsimons who was ordained by Bishop Oliver Plunkett in 1673 and was noted as Parish Priest of St Michael’s, St John’s, Churchtown, Kilberry and Nicholastown while residing in Athy in 1704.

It was Fr Maurice Regan, one time curate of Athy and later Castledermot who as parish priest of Athy for thirty-six years from 1789 witnessed his Parish Church off Chapel Lane, Athy destroyed by fire following an arson attack in 1800.

A short-lived parish priest was Fr Fintan Carroll who following his five-year tenure as parish priest of Castledermot transferred as parish priest to Athy in 1928 where he died within a few months.

The parish of St. Michael’s suffered a loss of two young curates in the first decade of the 20th Century.

Fr Mark Doyle, who transferred from Moone to Athy in 1896, died on the 16 January 1900. His namesake Fr Laurance Doyle, who was ordained on the 9 February 1896 and appointed Curate in Athy in 1900, died on the 1 August 1902.

Two interesting curates of St Michael’s were Fr James Gaffney, a curate from 1854 to 1859 who was a member of the Royal Irish Academy and Fr Thomas Greene, curate from 1844 to 1862 who was honoured by the erection of a Celtic cross in front of old St Michael’s Church after he transferred to Skerries.

He was the only clergyman based in St Michael’s Parish who was honoured in this way. I believe that this was due to his work during the Great Famine and the successful efforts he led in collecting funds to encourage the Sisters of Mercy to come to Athy. The Celtic cross, still lies broken in a quarry in West Wicklow. It should be recovered and even in its damaged state re-erected in or near the Parish Church or alternatively in McAuley Car Park opposite the church.

Many of my readers will remember Canon Patrick McDonnell after whom the McDonnell Drive housing estate was named.

He was parish priest from 1928 to 1956 and was probably the last of the old-style Parish Priests in Athy who stuck rigidly to the power then exercised by the Irish Catholic Church.

He was succeeded by Canon Edward Mackey, who was parish priest here in Athy for nineteen years from 1908.

It was Canon Mackey who played a prominent part in encouraging local men to enlist in the British Army in World War 1.

He spoke many times from a public platform in front of the Town Hall with local politicians and councillors to support John Redmond’s call for army recruits following the start of World War 1.

Fr Vincent Steen was parish priest during my altar boy days, completing his eleven years in that position in 1967. Canon Monsignor Owen Sweeney, during his five years as parish priest which finished in 1985, agreed for the parish to purchase the former Dreamland Ballroom in conjunction with Athy’s Lions Club.

Fr Philip Dennehy was a curate in Athy from 1963 to 1973, parish priest from 1985 to 2005 and Pastor Emeritus for fifteen years until his death on the 31 January 2022.

These are just some of the clergymen who have passed through St Michael’s Church before Fr Liam’s time. I remember Fr Liam’s first Sunday Mass in Athy’s Parish Church when he came from behind the altar, stood as near as he could to the congregation and spoke pleasantly and without notes to his parishioners.

It is something he did ever since, and on his last Athy Mass at 12 o’clock on Sunday, he spoke with eloquence and charm of his time in Athy, thanking those who worked with him over the years.

Fr Liam achieved much during his nine years in St Michael’s.

I think of the webcam which broadcasts Mass from St Michael’s Parish Church facilitating persons who could not attend Mass in person as one of the more practical arrangements he put in place.

Linking the webcam to give residents of St Vincent’s Hospital the opportunity to participate in Masses broadcast was another very important development.

The development of the parish centre in the former Mount St Mary’s was another worthwhile achievement initiated by Fr Liam with the support of the Parish Finance Committee.

Fr Liam is a good man who, by his work as a parish priest over the last nine years, will be remembered with gratitude and fondness by his Athy parishioners.

It is a happy coincidence that he takes over as parish priest of Wicklow where Fr Tim Hannon previously served as Parish Priest. We wish Fr Liam well in his new parish.