Modern European with Comic Timing - Bruckless mourns Fr Dermot McShane

Bishop Niall Coll of Raphoe, over two dozen priests, and numerous mourners attended the Funeral Mass of former Parish Priest, Fr Dermot McShane, at the Church of St Joseph and St Conal in Bruckless, as they heard that Fr McShane was a “modern European” who had “comic timing.”

The retired Bruckless parish priest, who was in his 90s, passed away on September 13 in Letterkenny University Hospital after a long illness, and his Funeral Mass was celebrated on September 16.

Mass, which was led by Bishop Coll, was followed by burial in the grounds of St Columba’s Church, Carrick.

From Cappagh, Teelin, where he received his primary education, he completed his secondary education at Summerhill College, Sligo and St Eunan’s College, Letterkenny.

He had been the former parish priest of Killaghtee for more than two decades, from 1991 to 2012, and had also served in parishes in Raphoe Town, Drimarone, Ardara, Leitirmacaward, Fintown, and Kilcar during his distinguished Priesthood.

Within local education, he was on the teaching staff at St Eunan’s College in Letterkenny and Ard Scoil Mhuire in Derrybeg, as well as being a Chaplain in Coláiste Bríde in Rann na Feirste.

At the beginning of a Funeral Service, items representing Fr McShane’s life were presented, including a picture of his ordination in Rome from March 1958, a Latin missal that “he loved to use to celebrate Latin Mass,” an Irish-language missal, and a bar of chocolate.

During the service, Bishop Coll said that Fr McShane lived his Priesthood in a “quiet, steady way” and that he had always found that Fr McShane had “comic timing.”

Bishop Coll noted Fr McShane’s devotion to Sr Therese of Lisieux, and travelled often to Lisieux in the north of France, and “above all else, was a man of God.”

He commented that he was the third son of Dorby and Ellen McShane, and that from early in life, “he knew something of life’s fragility.”

Bishop Coll said: “The sudden death of his father in a tractor accident while Dermot was a student in the Priesthood in Rome surely marked him deeply. He could not get home for the Funeral.

“That experience shaped his compassion and his understanding of human suffering. It gave him a kindness of heart, often mischievously expressed, and it stayed with him throughout his Priesthood.”

Speaking of his Priesthood, Bishop Coll stated: “Dermot was ordained in 1958 at the Basilica of St John Lateran in Rome. For any Priest, ordination is a moment of grace. For this young man from Teelin, it carried a special debt.

“St John Lateran is the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome. It is the Pope’s own cathedral, recognised throughout the Catholic World as the mother and head of all the churches in the world.

“To be ordained there is to be ordained at the very centre of the Church’s way. It meant that Dermot’s Priesthood was linked from the beginning in the most palpable way to the universal church.

“Yet when he came home, the Derry Journal at the time reports, following his ordination, ‘there were bonfires on the hillside, candles were glowing in every window, and the torchlight procession of school children,” which showed that his priesthood and faith were rooted in the people whom he loved, and the people who loved him.

“In Dermot’s story, the Lateran and Teelin belonged together. One representing the universal church, and the other the local church, and its faith- the faith that shaped him.

“Fr Dermot’s faith in Christ, his love for the Irish language, and his deep sense of belonging to Teelin stayed throughout his long life.”

Speaking of Fr McShane’s language skills, Bishop Coll said: “Dermot was a great, gifted linguist, renowned for his knowledge of the Italian language, which he learned as a student in Rome. Not only did he speak high Italian well, but because he played football, he developed a great knowledge of the dialect that is spoken in Rome.

“Also, he was excellent in French, and very much at home in his native Irish. In many ways, he was a modern European long before that phrase became fashionable.

“Fr Dermot’s wry sense of humour was well-known among his parishioners, his friends and colleagues. He had a storyteller's instinct, and a dry wit that many found adjacent.”

Bishop Coll commented that Fr McShane preached with “clarity” and “humour”, and he “also carried a remarkable knowledge of the Priests of Raphoe over many generations, and he could share their stories - holy, humorous, and human.”

Fr Dermot McShane was predeceased by his parents, Dorby and Ellen, and his brothers Pádraig, Tomás and Conall.

He will be sadly missed by his cousins, Bishop Niall Coll, Bishop Philip Boyce, his fellow priests, his former housekeeper Bríd McCallig, his parishioners and large circle of friends.