Published: Wednesday, 2nd December, 2009 5:00pm

Rector's journey from Australia to Athlone

It was "a very hot day" in November 1974 when Reverend Graham Doyle was ordained in his native Australia. The same couldn't quite be said of the conditions in flood-weary Athlone on Monday, where Rev. Doyle, the Rector of St Mary's Church of Ireland in the town, celebrated the 35th anniversary of his ordination with a special service.

Athlone's - and Ireland's - current problems pale in comparison to those the Reverend witnessed while spending seven years working as an Anglican chaplain in war-torn Yugoslavia during the 1990s.

"That was dreadful. I get emotional about it still," he told the Westmeath Independent this week. "I left Belgrade just before it was bombed. I came back after it was bombed and I was the only foreigner officially allowed into the country at that stage. I went back to see my congregation and various Serbian friends who I've still got. And I've been back there three or four times since.

"It's a wonderful part of the world that's never sorted itself out. The first world war began over Serbia, and it's still going on."

A native of Sydney, Rev. Doyle has had a wide variety of experiences since his ordination in Leeton, New South Wales, three and a half decades ago.

He started off as a curate in the parish of St Peter's in Leeton and continued working in various parts of Australia until 1983, when he won a scholarship to further his theological training in Oxford University.

After his education there was completed, he stayed in England, working first in Shepherd's Bush, London, and then in inner-city Bradford. He found that working in England was "not particularly" different from Australia.

"The main differences in England were the weather, the accents, and the fact that I did not speak any more Australian slang, which was definitely misunderstood!

"In my ministry I always had an interest in working in areas where there was deprivation, and I certainly did that in the two parishes where I was in England," he said.

His next move was to Yugoslavia. He worked as an Anglican chaplain ministering to the English-speaking community, though he also learned Serbian during his seven-year spell in the country.

Humanitarian work was a feature of his time there and he was particularly involved in assisting the children's hospital in Belgrade.

"I have a rather nice certificate of recognition from the oncology ward at the hospital because we managed to get life-saving drugs into the country. Even though there were sanctions we did manage to bring certain things in. It was small amounts, but it was something I was able to do," he said.

When asked about the highlights of his working life to date, he singled out this involvement with the children's hospital in Belgrade. Another highlight was celebrating Christmas liturgy on a couple of occasions in the private chapel of the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle.

Patriarch Pavle, died last month and Rev. Doyle said that his funeral was attended by one million people. "He was a wonderful man, a very simple-living, non-complicated, honest monk," he said.

After spending years in war-torn Yugoslavia, he was keen to live in a country that was not caught up in war and conflict.

"I read the constitution of Ireland and I decided that this country was a neutral country, it was not going to be involved in wars. The peace process was well underway. I was invited by Bishop Mayes, the Bishop of Kilmore, to come and work in Ireland.

"My name is Doyle and I thought I'd come to the land of my ancestors. And I've been very happy here. I'm a permanent resident and I'm hoping to receive my Irish passport soon. I was actually hoping that I'd get that letter today (on the 35th anniversary of ordination) so that I could say, yes, I'm truly Irish today!"

He spent three years in Killeshandra before moving to Athlone six years ago.

"My challenges in Athlone are completely different from anything I've ever experienced in my ministry," he said.

"The challenges in this parish were to do with: a) A school, which we've now completed, b) A lot of buildings that need urgent repair, and c) Scattered and small congregations, along with a highly personalised ministry that I've never experienced before. People expect to see you, which is time-consuming. When you're travelling long distances to see a few people, you wonder where your time has gone during the day."

He stated that, in the future, he hopes to become more involved in working towards a socially inclusive society with groups such as St Hilda's in Athlone.

"There's a lot to happen to this church in Athlone over the next few months - all sorts of things such as car parks, railings and repairs. That should be done very soon. Once it's finished, I would hope to be involved in the wider community in the ways that I have been in the past."

He referred to the fact that 2009 has been an extremely difficult year in Ireland. "We have a recession, unemployment, floods, a horror budget… it reminds me of the time I left Australia in 1983 to come to the UK.

"When I arrived there were riots in Liverpool. Ms Thatcher was in power. There was the miners' strike. There was unemployment. I thought the end of the world was coming. That was 25 years ago and now it's repeated itself. It's very sad, really. It seems like every generation needs to do the same sort of dastardly things to one another before somebody says 'let's not do it again'. Then people forget. And it all happens again.

"It will be worse next year. We all must expect a year that's worse than even now in materialistic terms, but there's always hope beyond that. It's a bit like the lesson of Job in the Bible: If you persevere long enough - and you persevere longer than the suffering - it shows you're a person of faith and hope and you wish for a future and there always is one. But it's a hard struggle."

Looking ahead, he said: "My worry about the church in the future is this: Is it losing its relevance? Does it seem real to people? Does it really offer spiritual comfort in a very tough world?"

"I once preached a sermon and I said: You know if you came into our church and you didn't know what the church was, the first thing you'd see is the cemetery. The second thing you'd see is all these monuments to dead people on the wall. Then you'd look in the windows to see Jesus, who's got a miserable po-face on him. Then you hear the preacher telling you about a joyful religion! You'd say, 'have I come to the right place?' Because the symbols around you are killing the message.

"People are looking for something in their lives and the Christian church has to be very clear in its vision and its message. And it has to be very clear and very loving in the way that it presents the message. It's got to stop lecturing people," he said.

The 35th anniversary of Rev. Doyle's ordination was celebrated on Monday with a service at St Mary's featuring music by a choir from Kildare Cathedral and also by a local choir, the Victory House Gospel Choir. This was followed by a reception at the Prince of Wales Hotel.