Fr John Cummins RIP

Last Wednesday afternoon Fr John Cummins was involved in a freak accident that resulted in his untimely passing from this earthly world. I was not long home from World Youth Day in Panama when I read the news on Facebook. Thank God I was home when I read the news though because the shock of reading such a thing while on foreign soil would have been very difficult. I am so grateful I was sitting in a room in Kiltegan with Seamus when I read of John's passing. I was safe to feel, cry and talk if I needed to. I didn't talk much to Seamus about it but moved out of the room into coldness to ring friends, both of whom actually knew John. I think the shock was so great that I did not fully feel the coldness of the room I moved to.

I would be first to admit that I did not know Fr John very well. While I was in the IT in Carlow I occasionally came in contact with him if I was staying in town for the weekend and went to mass in the Cathedral (that was a rare occurrence). Then when I moved to Carlow I soon realized that Askea was my local parish so I did not need to frequent the Cathedral for mass. But I still encountered John from time to time if I went to mass in the Cathedral or at other Diocesan events. Beginning my study with the Priory Institute seen my contact with Fr John become somewhat more frequent as I often turned to him looking for books. The majority of the time he could not help me but I always felt there was no harm asking, I think one time he was able to assist me. Then in the summer of 2017, he was moved from the Cathedral to Abbeylix. That September I got access to Carlow College library for my final year of study so I did not need to ask John for books which was perfect because of his change of location. But I still tried to stay in touch with Fr John, dropping him an email from time to time. I often passed through Abbeylix to get to Roscrea, Birr or Limerick. Every time I passed through I thought of Fr John and I always thought, 'I should have emailed him to see if he was around to say hi'. I finally emailed him prior to one of my trips a few months ago. I left it very late, only emailing him the night before. I was unsure he would get the email before I departed Carlow but I sent it anyhow. As it happened he wasn't even in the country at the time.

After reading of Fr John's passing I instantly recounted what I thought was our last encounter at the Kildare and Leiglin family day 2018 on the grounds of Carlow College. I saw him but he was talking to people. After a while when he was finished he came over to say hello. I cannot remember what we talked about I just thought after how nice it was of him to come over especially to say hello. Our acquaintance was such a rare thing but he still took the time to say hello. But Family Day was not our last encounter. Over the last few days, I was reminded of the World Meeting of Families and that he was present at it. I had at least two encounters with him in the RDS at this event. One encounter he made a sly remark in a joking sense. I thought it was great that our acquaintance had developed to a place where John felt he could have such a joke with me. I got my own back on him when I seen him on the last day in the RDS and jokingly made a snide remark and I'm pretty sure he took it as a joke.

Yesterday we brought Fr John to his final resting place. I was privileged to be able to attend both his requiem mass in Abbeylix and his funeral mass in Newbridge. On Saturday Bishop Nulty spoke highly of John and at his funeral, his friend and classmate Fr Ger shared some lovely words about John. I really felt that through these homilies I really got an insight into the person John was, an insight I feel I was only starting to get to see in John myself in recent months. When I first met John he seemed somewhat distant, he spoke to me but minumul conversation. But then in the RDS he seemed so comfortable around me that he felt he could have a laugh with me. After hearing of Fr John's passing I searched my emails from him. In my last email to him at Christmas, I told him I was sure that our paths would cross in 2019. When I wrote my last email to him I never imagined that the next time I encountered him I would be saying goodbye, never to meet him again during my earthly journey. I've been thinking of the Chrism Mass during Holy week, it is going to be very different for me this year not seeing Fr John.

Fr John Cummins 17th October 1966- 30th January 2019. Rest in Peace John.