Concelebrating the Mass were Parish Priest Father Michael Ryan and former Parish Priest Monsignor John McIntyre, Parish Priests from all the other Parishes in the town – Fathers Michael MacNamee, William Nolan and Patrick Hennessy – former curates Fathers Gerard Bogan and Michael Briody, as well as curate Father Tom Devlin and Father Stephen Rooney, curate of Our Lady Of Lourdes, East Kilbride. The singing was led by parishioner Marion Greenan accompanied by organist Carol Lipton; the opening hymn was ‘I, the Lord of sea and sky’; the Offertory hymn was ‘Fill my house unto the fullest’, ‘I am the bread of life’ was sung during communion, with ‘Christ be our light’ as the post-communion hymn; finally, the Lourdes hymn “Immaculate Mary’ was the recessional hymn.

Sister Sheila was joined by Sisters Lelia, Mary and Rosemary from her congregation, as well as several members of her family – her sister, Pauline, nephew Declan and his wife Antoinette, nephew Michael and his fiancée Lorraine, and nieces Geraldine and Edel. Geraldine and Edel had declined the invitation for personal or work-related reasons, planning instead to surprise their Auntie Sheila on the night, which they certainly did! Sister’s friends John and Seana Ryan had also made the journey from Ireland to be present at the celebrations. In his homily, Father Ryan praised Sister Sheila’s fidelity to her vocation to religious life.

After Mass Sister was joined on the sanctuary by her family and by all the concelebrating priests for a photo opportunity, where lots of smiles, laughter and jokes were shared as numerous cameras recorded the happy evening. Then it was up to the beautifully decorated Pastoral Centre for the next part of the celebrations. Guests were met at the door of the hall with a glass of champagne provided by caterer Paul Reilly. Paul provides much of the catering at St,.Bride’s functions, including Sister’s party, and on this occasion he provided the champagne as a gift to Sister. When the hall was filled with happy parishioners, Sister was piped up to the party by parishioner Frank McCabe and greeted on arrival by a huge round of applause.

The party was organised by parishioners Cathy McDonald and Elizabeth MacEntaggart, assisted by their band of willing parish helpers. In fact, such is the regard in which Sister Sheila is held in St. Bride’s that parishioners were competing with one another before the event to be given a job to do, however small. There were cooks and tea-makers, table setters and balloon blowers, bar staff and dish washers, photograph display arrangers and table-clearers, meeters and greeters.

Once everyone had assembled, parish priest Father Michael Ryan extended a parish welcome to Sister Sheila and her guests. Gifts were presented to Sister Sheila on behalf of the parishioners. Flowers were presented by parishioners Jim and Mary-Agnes McCabe. Then it was on to the next stage of the party, but not before Sister Sheila cut her cake and gave a charming and humorous vote of thanks, which was very well received.

As Sister Sheila likes a game of bingo, it was then eyes down, look in, rapt attention all round, the numbers called by parishioner John Thomson, expert bingo caller at the regular Parish bingo. What a surprise to find that Sister Sheila won! What a coincidence! After the bingo came the delicious buffet prepared by the ladies of the parish, under the direction of parish gaffers Cathy McDonald and Elizabeth MacEntaggart. 

The next item in the action-packed agenda was Irish dancing, with two dancers from the Irish Dance School which meets weekly in the Pastoral Centre. There is plenty of home-grown talent in St. Bride’s parish, and a very pleasant hour or so then ensued, with parishioner Dan Gray as compere. There were songs from parishioners Harry Sheridan, Patsy Conway, Robert Conway and Marion Greenan, who was accompanied on the keyboard by octogenarian Gertrude MacDonnell. Veteran parishioner Neil Gill, a former English teacher and published writer, then delivered a poem he had written to celebrate Sister Sheila’s special occasion, a poem which was both humorous and poignant.  Finally, dancing began, organised and led by parishioners Jeanne and Bill Paterson, themselves keen and able dancers. After the Canadian Barn Dance, Pride of Erin Waltz and Gay Gordons, it was on to more sedate affairs. Sister Sheila was in huge demand for all of these dances and had a literal and metaphorical ball.

When the group made a circle on the floor at the end of the evening for ‘Auld Lang Syne’, it was in a spirit of friendship, and in a spirit of gratitude to the Lord for all the blessings he showers on St. Bride’s Parish through our wonderful parish priest, through our curate, through our common baptism, through our faith and of course through Sister Sheila Clancy. May the Lord reward her for her generosity and continue to hold her in the palm of his hand.

Lynn Toner    July 2008