Moving Galway tribute to much loved Tipperary priest, the late Fr Abe Kennedy

By Liz Skelly, former colleague at Portumna Community School

There have been many great crossings of the Shannon - but for the legions who stood on the bridge of Portumna on a Wednesday evening recently to wave off our dear friend Fr Abe Kennedy, this was, for all its grief, the most noble of all.

With hearts laden like anchors, we were rooted with sadness, yet so proud for having known the most remarkable of men as we passed him over to his native Tipperary.

If goodbyes could be perfect, this was it. 

From the children he ‘chaplained’ at Portumna Community School for all those years, many now adults, to the teachers whose days he filled with grace and laughter and wisdom. The parishioners who got the kindest and softest of pastoral care that beautifully marked the good days and delicately and sensitively eased them through the bad ones. The priests he ploughed a challenging and sometimes lonely but oft times fun-filled furrow with. dear friends who journeyed the happy and sad days with him. And a family he cherished from the dawn till the dusk of his life.  

All drawn together in a single salute to a man who had walked so beautifully among us. A man who had shown us the good way. A truly remarkable man. A truly remarkable priest whose way we were privileged to see and follow.

The farewell had, in truth, begun almost a week earlier when we were plunged into the depths of disbelief and awful sadness with word of the sudden illness that would inevitably take him from us. It would be only a matter of time. 

A special man who had glided quietly into our world but was leaving peacefully to his own.

So, what was it about Abe that made him so special? That had him walk with the lightest footprints but leaving the most beautiful imprint?

He was kind and caring and fun. He was compassionate and spiritual and respectful. He had a way of getting into your heart and staying there. He had a gift of making everyone and every situation feel better. But above all, Abe was a master of instilling a warmth in all who knew and met him, and in his non-judgemental way, allowed those to feel safe and free in his presence.

His family and closest of friends had kept vigil by his bedside for nearly a week, never leaving his side. They comforted and soothed him on the most difficult and serene of voyages - from this life into the next.

And then the communal farewell began on the Tuesday as Abe was selflessly returned by his family and close friends to the Abbey and Duniry parish he had served so happily over the past seven years.

Like the warmth of the sun’s rays that bore down that Tuesday evening, the people of Abbey and Duniry radiated a glowing welcome to all those who did not belong to this princely place but who wanted a little more precious time with this man to whisper their thanks, their gratitude and their goodbye as they stood over his casket. Children of all ages cried uncontrollably, and adults proudly sobbed for a man whose likes only come along once in a lifetime. 

And then Wednesday and the goodbye to Galway for this son of Tipperary.

It started in mid- afternoon in Duniry church with the most serene of Masses, full of perfect symbolism. Emotional tributes were paid to Abe by his Bishop, the local school principal and his sister. Three facets of Abe’s life that meant so much- his faith, his community and friends and above all, his family. A touching mass that encapsulated the person. And then a song that put words on the unspeakable truth: ‘So long Abraham, it’s time we began to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again’ 

Then the journey to the ‘handover’ at the bridge. As the hearse slowly wound its way through the parishes he had graced, people of all ages stood in the downpour and clapped and saluted their friend.

The hearse took one proud last turn as it stopped at Portumna Community School to allow  of students, teachers, parishioners and friends begin walking him across his final Galway miles.

At the front, on their powerful break-powered chariots, were three dear friends. Men he shared long but beautiful journeys over many years, mountains and valleys. Motorcycling across Europe during summer holidays that he returned from, lightened blissfully and recounting their mischievous exploits.

A quartet of explorers for the first time missing their navigator. It symbolised the mood perfectly. We would all be lost without him.

As we took the final steps and breathed in the sweep of it all, there would be one more twist, a beautiful turn, as Galway and the diocese of Clonfert waved goodbye.

There, as we stood at the river crossing with cargo loads of emotion pinning us to the bridge, our mood lifted in an instant. Like buoys cut free from the basin of the Shannon itself. 

Right as the tears of sadness started to flow, an appropriately playful and rebellious – it was Abe after all – bellowing of car horns sounded from the hearse and cortege as it began to move slowly again across the steel crossing.

The trumpeting of his departure rang across the Shannon and the many who had walked with him burst into spontaneous and sustained applause as he rumbled slowly over the very bridge that brought him here 36 years ago.

As the hearse faded into the Tipperary landscape and we turned for the long walk home, it was not lost on anyone that the spirit of Abe lives on in us all and will continue as a guiding light for the people of south east Galway and beyond.

It was, indeed, a special moment fitting for the most special of people and one we will never forget. So long Abraham.