Man of many hats

Columban Fr Aidan Larkin's vocation story.

Man of many hatsFr Aidan Larkin doesn't actually wear a hat but, in a manner of speaking, he has worn a lot of them. He was born in Lissan, near Cookstown, Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland and both his parents were teachers. He was educated in St Patrick's College, Armagh. An admirer of Padraig Pearse, a leader of the 1916 Rising, he later modified his outlook under the influence of Jesus' moderation and commitment to non­violence.

On finishing his studies in Armagh he applied for Maynooth Seminary, was accepted, spent one year there and decided, perhaps prematurely, that the life was not for him. He transferred to University College Dublin where he took an MA in Ancient Classics. He then applied for admission to the Jesuit novitiate and spent the next year walking the path of Saint Ignatius Loyola. For a few months in 1971 he taught in Mungret College, Limerick.

But then, he 'took fright' at the prospect of long-term vows and asked for a postponement. Finally he left the novitiate though he still cherishes the memory of happy days in Emo and Clontarf.

Back home in Northern Ireland he got a job teaching in Holy Family convent school and began to take an interest in politics. He joined the newly­ founded SDLP (Social Democratic Labour Party). In 1972 he won a seat on Magherafelt District Council. The SDLP won control of the Council. Next he was nominated by the Party to fight the mid­ Ulster Constituency with Ivan Cooper, Stephen McKenna and Paddy Duffy in the General Election for the proposed Power Sharing Assembly.

It was a six-seater and he took the last seat. On the Nationalist side those were the days of Gerry Fitt and John Hume, and on the Unionist side Brian Faulkner. An intergovernmental conference was held later on which led to the Sunningdale Agreement, signed in December 1973. It also provided for a Council of Ireland, though this was never implemented due to the Loyalist Workers' Strike which paralysed Northern Ireland for more than a week.

In his maiden speech at Northern Ireland's Stormont Parliament, Fr Aidan quoted Martin Luther King's famous address, "I have a dream" - a dream of peaceful coexistence of Unionists and Nationalists. He had always been interested in the American Civil Rights Movement. It seemed to him a lawyers' revolution. This led him to study Law at Queen's University, Belfast, in his spare time from his duties at Stormont. Having qualified as a barrister he worked in the law courts for some time.

But as he visited the jails to talk with his clients, Aidan came to the conclusion that what they most needed was not the help of a lawyer, but a priest. He also foresaw a bloody struggle for power in Northern Ireland in which lawyers would be pushed aside. He felt powerless.

Man of many hats

Next he saw an ad inviting barristers to apply for posts as junior advisers in the Legal Service of the Council of Ministers of the European Community in Brussels, Belgium. He successfully applied and worked initially with a more senior German colleague as a secretary to the Working Party harmonising the Company Law and Stock Exchange Regulations of member states. Everything was done through French. Later he worked in the section dealing with Agriculture, Fisheries and the Law of the Sea.

One of the benefits of living in Brussels was coming in contact with the Charismatic Renewal and having personal contact with Cardinal Suenens, one of the leading proponents of reform at Vatican II. Around this time, the idea of priesthood gradually returned to his heart. With great courage he decided to try a third time.

The Autumn of 1981 found him in Clonliffe College, the diocesan seminary of the Archdiocese of Dublin. This time all went well and he was ordained in 1985. On that day he experienced the joy of being a priest, a joy which has never left him. He was assigned to Corpus Christi Parish, Drumcondra where he spent five happy years. In 1988 he requested permission to work abroad as a Diocesan Associate with the Columbans and this led to six years on assignment in Chile.

On his return to Dublin he was assigned as chaplain to Trinity College. Over the next four years he had to decide between a preferential option for youth (campus ministry) or a preferential option for the poor (Chile). In 2003 he was given permission to apply for membership of the Missionary Society of St Columban. On being accepted he returned to Chile and worked for nine years in lquique, on the Pacific coast, surrounded by the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.

In 2008 he was diagnosed with the early stages of Parkinson's Disease. He returned to Ireland in 2010 at the request of the Superior General in order to write a book. The outcome was St Columban, Pilgrim for Christ, a scholarly work that has been praised by experts in the field. He is currently finishing a study of the influence of the Fathers of the Church on St Patrick. He fears that the treasures of Early Irish Christianity are being forgotten. He deals with his illness, like St Paul, with love and patience, knowing that the Lord invites us to associate ourselves with His life-giving cross.

God is at the heart of this great mystery and in his loving care for each sick person he remains very close at hand as he prepares a new heaven and a new earth.

Columban Fr Alo Connaughton worked in Chile with Fr Aidan. At present he teaches in China and Thailand.


Read more from The Far East, October 2014