Parish priest wins leading literary prize
A parish priest from Portsmouth Diocese has won a prominent Irish literary prize. Father John Buckley was awarded first prize in the short story section of the "Ireland's Own Centenary Year Writing Competition." 'Ireland's Own' is read world wide and celebrates a hundred years of quality writing and reading. In a tribute to the magazine, Mrs Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, wrote: " I like the world that the magazine represents, a happier world of kindness and generosity and goodness, and to be doing that for a hundred years is a fantastic thing to be celebrating." This is not the first literary prize that Fr Buckley has been awarded but it is the most prestigious. His winning short story is entitled:' The Fair Field,' and is about his childhood growing up in Cork City during and after the Second World War. It will be published in Ireland's Own in the coming months. Fr Buckley is parish priest of Our Lady Queen of Apostles , Bishop's Waltham, and St Gregory the Great, Alresford. Both parishes are near Southampton.