Priest starts cancer patient’s diary

Having spent years working as the chaplain in St Anne’s Cancer Hospital, Dublin in his younger days, well-known author and columnist, Fr Martin Tierney has himself been given just one year to live by cancer specialists in a Limerick hospital.

The 70-year-old has provided pastoral care and comfort to hundreds of families whose loved ones contracted cancer and now, in addition to bowel cancer, the former assistant director of the Catholic Press and Information Office has cancer of the liver and the lungs.
However, not content with concentrating solely on his own recovery, the native of Mount Merrion, Dublin has started a weekly cancer patient’s diary in the Irish Catholic newspaper in a bid to reach out to the thousands of patients suffering from numerous different diseases, including cancer.
Although Fr Tierney is a priest of the Dublin Archdiocese, he is well known in Clare, having worked as an assistant priest to Sixmilebridge parish priest, Fr Harry Bohan for the last two years.
His father, Martin, who married Jean Russell from Dublin, was a native of Kilshanny and Fr Tierney had a house in the North Clare village, which he used as a holiday home. Thirteen years ago, he moved to a house in Liscannor, which he uses as a base and a holiday home. In fact, he insists his heart is always in Clare and loves the outdoor life in the varied North Clare landscape.
After officially retiring two years ago, Fr Tierney decided to assist his colleague and friend Fr Bohan, both of whom are on the board of the Céifin Institute in Shannon, by helping out in Sixmilebridge from his Liscannor base.
As a director of Veritas, Fr Tierney was responsible for establishing the network of Veritas shops in towns throughout the country, including Clare, in 1983.
The contrast between working as a priest in Dublin’s inner city and in South-East Clare has been stark. Over an eight-year period he worked in St Audoen’s parish in High Street, Dublin near Christ Church Cathedral and got to know drug addicts and alcoholics, who used to sleep on the church porch on a regular basis.
“Coming to County Clare was a big change. The pace of life is different. People have more time to talk in the country. There are lovely people in Sixmilebridge. I love nature and the open countryside and my dog is getting lonely up here in Dublin.
“I love history; European history, Victorian history and anything to do with the British Empire. I am currently reading a brilliant book by Flore on the Russian Revolution,” he said.
“ I am not thinking of dying. I am not interested in becoming a celebrity. I hope I can try and help people who are suffering in hospital from my own personal experience.
“Last week, I was in hospital and I saw a young teenager who was probably about 16 in a bed with no parents or family, suffering on her own. I will be trying to get inside their mind and thoughts to try and help them.
“My sister, Hilda collects me after my chemotherapy. Some people have to travel up to 150 miles to get back to their homes in taxis, buses and trains. It is not as if these people don’t have enough psychological trauma than having to face these journeys on their own. How do you help these people to help themselves and how do you support them?” he asked.
Recently, Fr Tierney had to go to a Dublin hospital at 5am having endured a severe bout of hiccups as a side effect from his medication around the clock for five successive days. Unlike some people who haven’t had a great experience in public hospitals, the cleric was full of praise for all the staff, who he said couldn’t have been kinder and within a day, his hiccups ended.
Educated at University College, Dublin and Holy Cross Seminary, Dublin, he was ordained in 1964 and has served in Dublin parishes as a curate and parish priest.
He was a director of the Catholic Communications Institute, a consultor to the Pontifical Commission for Social Communications and a co-founder of a Catholic Charismatic Community – The Light of Christ Community.
For almost 30 years, Fr Tierney studied new religious groups who appeared in Ireland since the ’60s. He has attended their meetings and familiarised himself with the leaders of groups such as the Moonies, The Children of God, Hare Khrisna and many others. He had helped to advise on these groups.
Fr Tierney argues there is a revolving door syndrome in most groups.
“People tend to join with enthusiasm, give zealous service, join in worship and then leave. Their departure is often accompanied with disillusionment and they seldom return to the Church they originally belonged to.
“Many groups use dubious methods to recruit, often projecting themselves as something they are not. Scientology, The School of Philosophy and Economic Science, seldom tell recruits of their origins, founder or advanced practices. The advice is to beware! Parents and others would be better not opposing their offspring but rather seeking to understand. When young people leave such groups, they need a home to come home to. If parents alienate their young people, the problems are often compounded,” he said.
Fr Tierney has written extensively for the secular and religious press. For eight years, he was a regular columnist with the Sunday Independent and he is a weekly contributor to the Irish Catholic newspaper.
He has submitted articles to a number of websites in Ireland and abroad. He has written a short biography of Martin Luther King, a book on cults entitled The New Elect – the Church and New Religious Groups and Sundaythoughts.com a commentary on every Sunday of the year over a three-year cycle, which has been made into a book. His main pastoral interest is evangelisation.
He has contributed to many journals, such as the Catholic Standard Furrow, Priest and People and Sunday Press.