The bell signalling the Angelus is sounding at Piltown’s Church of the Assumption while Father Paschal Moore is detailing the track-by-track inspiration behind his new CD, ‘Soulful Harmonica’.
Fr Paschal, who will formally launch the CD tomorrow evening (Wednesday, August 20th) at the Piltown Community Centre following a Mass which will mark his 55 years in the priesthood, is “part of the furniture” in South Kilkenny.
“I spent my first 12 years as a curate in Ferrybank (1970-82), serving as chaplain in Belmont Psychiatric Hospital and teaching at Slieverue Tech,” Fr Paschal recalled.
“I spent the next 10 years in Rosbercon before moving to Owning in 1992. In 1994, I became Parish Priest of Templeorum (incorporating Piltown and Owning) and I’ve been here ever since. And what a privilege it has been to serve this community – and continues to be. Unlike some priests, I wasn’t moved around much, and I’m delighted that’s how things turned out for me. I’ve become part of this parish’s family and that has filled me with gratitude.”
A period of ill health from which he is currently recovering from persuaded Paschal to produce and record a CD with the co-operation of his friend and Parish Office colleague Noel O’Regan and acclaimed local musician Gay Brazel.
Joined by fellow local musicians Marion Ingoldsby, Éabha Maher and ‘Ernie B’, with backing vocals from the Brazel Sisters, Fr Paschal is justly proud of the end product, which features 10 tracks full of personal meaning.
“Gay Brazel played ‘The Old Rugged Cross’ on his Dobro guitar during a funeral I was officiating last year and it bowled me over. We were chatting afterwards when Gay suggested I should work on a CD. I genuinely didn’t know if I was going to be able for it but he encouraged me and persuaded me that I’d manage it – and he was right. We recorded it in Gay’s studio in Carrick-on-Suir, I played the harmonica on each track and the whole experience was great therapy for me; it really motivated me and helped me through my illness.
“We spent five terrific months putting it together and it was wonderful to be surrounded by friends while working on a project like this. Music has always been a huge part of my life. On the CD’s sleeve, I describe music as my faithful life-long companion, a source of endless joy, solace and inspiration. It has moved me physically, emotionally and spiritually and has provided me with a soothing balm that has refreshed and nourished my soul.”
Featuring well-known numbers including ‘Just A Closer Walk With Thee’, Dvorak’s ‘Going Home’, ‘Carrickfergus’ and ‘Help Me Make It Through The Night’, the CD’s selection is not exclusively religious but is entirely soulful.
“I’ve loved music since I was a boy,” said Paschal. “When I was about five or six years of age, my father Patrick bought me an accordion which I still have and I played it in several bands and groups over the years. I progressed from the accordion to the banjo and then onto the keyboard (which his parochial house features more than a few of!).
“Back in the 80s, my brother Billy was interested in the blues and he wanted to learn how to play it so I joined him at lessons which were being given by Michael McInerney at the Walton School of Music in Dublin. As it turned out, Billy lasted about five weeks but I stuck with it and that was my introduction to the harmonica, which I’ve played ever since.”
Inspired by parents Patrick and Elizabeth to pursue his religious vocation, Paschal was ordained in 1970 but admits that he “didn’t know Jesus even if I knew all about him. I’d never really experienced him. And it was only when I became a priest and started working with people, in all their joyful and devastating moments, that I got to really know Jesus. So instead of converting them, they converted me. The kindness, the solidarity and the compassion of the parishioners that I have met through good times and bad, both in their lives and in mine, and witnessing the work of first responders during the most difficult of circumstances, deepened my faith and persuaded me to stay the course.”
While recording the album, Fr Moore thought of the 28 people who died by suicide whose Requiem Masses he has officiated at.
He also thought of those killed and injured on the N24 Fiddown/Piltown Bypass, a spate of tragedies which galvanised him and parishioners to campaign for an overhaul of the route which successfully led to a €10 million project.
Fr Paschal also recalled the late Paiche Unyolo Onyemachi, the 25-year-old mother of two, whose body was discovered just outside Piltown, on the road to Templeorum, in July 2004.
“Each of those losses left a mark on our community and on myself individually,” he said. “To be at the scene of so many tragedies leaves a deep imprint, something that’s not easy to reconcile with and live with. On more than one sad occasion, when I’ve returned home, I’ve often found consolation through my music and more than once, I’ve played for a few hours before turning in.
“There’s hardly a night I’m in bed before 2am – I’ve always been a night owl – and when you lock the door after administering the last rites or having provided support for a grieving family, that can be a very lonely place for a priest with even the strongest of faiths. And that’s where music, along with the compassion of neighbours and parishioners, has kept me in check and persuaded me that I have taken the right path.”
When asked to name his best day as a priest, Fr Paschal replied: “I’d have to consider that in terms of days rather than a single day: and those were the days when I knew I was needed, the days when I brought consolation and hope to people who were hopeless, people who were very ill, and people who were dying. To be with a person and their families during such deeply sensitive moments, to be there to listen and to provide comfort, is such a privilege. That sense of being needed has brought such meaning to my 55 years as a priest. The people of this wonderful parish, since I first arrived here, have nourished me spiritually and they too have brought so much meaning to my life. And I will be forever thankful to all of them.”
‘Soulful Harmonica’ by Fr Paschal Moore (€10) is available from Fr Moore himself (087 2408078), the Piltown Parish Office (051-643112; 9:30am-1pm, Monday to Friday) and can also be ordered by emailing templeorum@ossory.ie
