We survived without you

Oh God how we missed you this Christmas gone;

Like a ship on a starless night

you sailed beyond the horizon

Silently, no ripples, no limelight

No gong announced you parting

On the Morning tide:

But forthcoming events had cast their shadow

The River Clare had burst its banks in protest

Flooding your beloved parish of Claregalway,

Waters risen in anger

Finding their levels with a frenzy not seen

in Fifty years,

Ferocious swell swept past the Abbey

Casting a cold eye on all in its path

Cutting off our village at the bridge

A brief clamp on the jugular -

Flooding plains & dwellings

Instilling fear & anguish into people,

Community spirit prevailed, neighbour helped neighbour;

Then came the news of your passing

Just when we needed you most,

Your soothing words, wise, witty and concise

No beating about the bush,

Told us what we needed to know

Reminding what we had forgotten

Or chosen to forget -

Your daily blessing of young and old

Christened out babies, married our Sons & Daughters

Listened to our woes -

Anointed our loved ones and eased their passing

Your homily to the bereaved was second to none.

In gentle tones your carefully chosen words of wisdom

soothed the trauma of death

In all its shades of mystery.

You shook the hand of popes & presidents

Pauper & prince and through it all

Humility was your abounding attribute

Unassuming, non judgemental -

Dignity at its purest;

Cold reality of your premature death

Intensified the misery of constant rain and

Arctic conditions of early December days.

Thankfully Fathers of the SMA were there to carry the load

They in turn were ferried by tractor

over the flooded bridge of Baile Chláir;

This I am sure caused you to smile;

Thousands gathered to pay respect to your grieving loved ones as you reposed

In your very own chapel of rest,

Then into your church for one last time,

On a bitter cold Sunday evening.

On Monday December 7th your Requiem Mass was said

Bishop of Galway & dignitaries of Church & state presented,

Eighty priests & more filed into seats

many tributes were paid, many tears were shed

for our much loved Father Noel.

Beams of Sunlight through the stained glass window

Highlighted your coffin resting in your own familiar alter space

On this first December Monday

thirteen years of Sundays & Mondays

you were Shephard of our flock

No dwindling numbers in these troubled times of scandal and revelations

Claregalway parish was unique

For we had one of the best;

In Silence we walked behind your coffin

Over the bridge of subsiding waters

Where we said our farewell,

They carried you over the border

Laid you to rest with your own people

In Shrule, Co.Mayo

Thank you for all you have done.

you were one in a million.

May your gentle soul rest in eternal serenity

‘ Sleep in heavenly peace’,-

Beidh cuimhne go Deo ort in íntinn

Mhuintir na Gaillimhe go Mór Mhór

Baile Chlair agus an Carn Mór

I Líonnta Dé go geastar sinn aríst.

Maura Kavanagh
Cregboy 28.12.2009