On the subject of priests being local or not. I agree with Anton and Oisín that Priest are rarely, if ever local, but they can be in a parish for some considerable years (between 10-20) if they are ordinary secular priests. If they are moved it is usually somewhere in the Diocese (it is the Diocese, after all, that employs them) but that doesnt man that they cant move themselves and effectively get a job elsewhere. I have an old friend who is a catholic priest. When I first met him he was a curate in Ballymun Road, a suburban parish in Dublin. He then, for his own reasons (political as it turned out), moved jobs to New Ross which, being in Wexford, is in a different Diocese (Ferns to be precise) and served in 2 separate parishes there (at the Dioceses whim) during which time he managed to go into a monastery for a while and come back out. Effectively he jacked in the job in Ferns, went to another job, didnt like it and got his old job back. Eventually, for the same political reasons he moved to the States where he has served in 2 different parishes in the same Diocese (one of them twice) and is now the parish Priest in a parish in Florida. Point: He moved himself around a lot when he moved from Dublin to Ferns, to the Monastery, back to Ferns and then the States, but in each Diocese he has been moved around as they needed him. He has been the PP in Florida for about 10 years now. That said, if the parish is non-secular and is the responsibility of one of the Orders like the Carmelites (Berkley Rd., in Dublin) Vincentians (Phibsboro and Dominic St. in Dublin) or any one of the many Catholic Orders that do parish work alongside other, more traditional, non-secular work, he may find himself (the Priest) moved quite a distance as their coverage areas tend to transcend Dioceses. Another associate, who is Carmelite and from Donegal had served, last we spoke, in 3 separate parishes in the UK, 2 in Dublin, 1 in Cork, a school in Cork and a retreat centre in Dublin, in less than 20 years and the turnover of priests in the Carmelite parish that he worked in and I lived in was quite high compared to my experiences in secular parishes. That said, I do believe, and I could be corrected here, that most rural Irish Parishes are secular and Priests, especially Parish Priests, tend to remain a long time in one place but I have been told by a Priest that if they get too comfortable in one place they will be moved. Priests tend to keep their relation ships with their parishioners purely professional and keep their personal, non-priestly, friendships outside their parish.
As for the woman walking out of nowhere after 13 years tongues would wag, their would be gossip and it would be a 9-day wonder. People would be more interested in where she had been (and where was her daughter) than the fact she didnt look like she had aged. In this day and age that can be explained away by healthy living, exercise, make-up, cosmetic surgery etc . People would be more interested in the scandal of where she, and her daughter, had been/still was and what had happened 20 years ago. As for the Sidhe although we throw a nod to the traditions and myths I dont think anyone seriously believes them. She probably wouldnt tell the truth to anyone who wasnt in the know (Kinfolk, Garou, Sidhe etc.). She is more likely to have concocted a cover story like she had gone to stay with Siobhan in the States. Ciao, Pat :-) -- Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.11.4/424 - Release Date: 21/08/2006 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
