Canon Gerard Flynn RIP

Canon Gerard Flynn

Source: Portsmouth Diocese

Fr Joe McNerney gave the following homily and eulogy at the funeral of Canon Gerard Flynn at St Michael's, Leigh Park, Portsmouth Diocese. (The church was absolutely packed, with many clergy and laity in attendance, spilling out onto the steps of the church.

As has been mentioned, Canon Gerard was the Vocations Director for our diocese. That might sound like another add on task to his ministry, but it was much more than that. In common parlance "vocation" usually has to do with career path or choice. We speak of vocational training as when someone begins an apprenticeship, for example, or when one enters a 'tech' college.

For Catholics of a particular age, vocation is often used as a noun. Think of several parishioners chatting after Mass and noticing that young Jim has started attending daily Mass and often pops into the church to pray and commenting, "I wonder if he might have a vocation" - almost as though he's picked up some kind of virus.

But the word "vocation" comes from the Latin verb vocare, as in 'to call' or 'to be called'. In the Gospel that we have just heard, Jesus seems to assume that his disciples know where he is going, and he wants them to follow him. Thomas asks, "Lord we don't know where you are going so how can we know the way?" Jesus didn't respond with a set of directions, such as head on to the next roundabout and take the second exit. He tells Thomas and the rest (including ourselves) that He is the Way. In this way, He is calling His disciples to follow Him, not a set of directions, but Him. For Christians to follow Jesus is to respond to His call. And all of us who claim to be Christians are called by Jesus to follow Him. And how do we do that? Well, each calling is as individual as we are. And in that way each of us has a vocation. So Gerard was not just a recruitment officer for the diocese. He was helping everyone who came his way to discover the Lord's calling in their lives. Of course, many people who came to Gerard were discerning a particular calling to the priesthood or religious life in the Church. To hear the voice of the Lord in one's life by necessity requires a relationship with the Caller and Gerard would spend hours with individuals on their journeys to find their vocation; God's plan for their lives, whatever that might be.

Well, you can't teach what you don't know, so how did Fr Gerard discover and respond to the Lord's calling in his own life. It began in early life in a strong Christian family. He had close relationships with his parish priests and was serving at the altar at a young age. He was also gifted with a very bright and inquiring mind and a love of learning. He was also gifted with a passion for instilling this love of learning into others. Gerard had a wonderful ability of relating to children. He saw each child as unique, special and worthy of the utmost respect. This naturally led him into the teaching profession. God uses our talents and abilities in His calling. In 'churchy' terms it's referred to as grace building on nature. And this is where he shone. Some of you here today were Gerard's colleagues in the various schools in which he taught and can attest to his teaching ability. I think most of us here can say that Gerard was a born teacher. Even when the Lord's calling led him in a different direction he never lost his "teacher role". When preaching, one expected every homily of his to begin with "now are we all sitting comfortably?" He also always looked for the best in people where others would only see their faults. And once when he and I were on holiday and driving through rural Poland we became completely lost. It was in the early days of voice Sat-Nav, and we were constantly heading down rural lanes and when we finally were told to turn into a farmer's field, I said rather crossly, "would you turn that thing off?" to which Gerard replied "she is doing her best!!"

But there came a change in the direction of his vocation. And a dramatic one. In 1993 Gerard became very ill and was taken into hospital. His liver was not functioning and it was decided that the only thing to save him would be a liver transplant. Now at the same time, not that far away, a young man was riding his motorbike and was involved in a very serious accident. He was taken into the same hospital but sadly didn't survive. The medical staff then approached his parents to ask if a donation of the boy's functioning organs would be possible. And at this very difficult time, his parents made the very brave, courageous and generous decision in the midst of their own anguish and grief to offer their son's body organs to help someone else. Fr Gerard was the someone else. When the tests were done, it was found to be a perfect match and Gerard was rushed up to King's hospital in London where the transplant took place. That gift gave Gerard another 32 years of life. And he told me there was never a day that passed that he didn't pray for that young man and his family. Although Gerard often had thought of the priesthood, in some ways this was the catalyst. He then left the teaching profession and began his studies for the priesthood in which he would minister for the rest of his life.

God does, and is always calling us no matter where we are on our faith journey and no matter how solid or vague our faith might be. As we've gathered here to pray for Gerard on the final part of his journey to the Father, let's also pray for those whom Gerard helped during his life, his students in schools where he taught, colleagues, those finding their vocations, his parishioners, his fellow priests, family and friends. Let's also pray for ourselves that we may always respond generously to that inner voice calling us to what is right and good.