Passing of a gentle soul whose light will never go out
Dave O'ConnellA Different View
A Different View with Dave O’Connell
It seems strange even now to be writing about Canon Sean Manning’s death – hard to believe most of all because he’s no longer with us, but also strange to describe him as a Canon. Because to all who knew him, he was never anything other than Father Sean.
Whether it was in his native Glann on the shores on Lough Corrib; through his years as a teacher and President of St Mary’s College; in basketball or table tennis circles….or among his fellow anglers on his beloved lake.
But never has a more gentle soul walked on God’s green earth; a kind, self-effacing, modest man who somehow managed to quietly touch the heart of everyone who ever met him.
I’ve known Fr Sean all of my life, because we’re from the one place. He did his best to teach me in St Mary’s College and we’ve been firm friends ever since. We’ve enjoyed long journeys together where the talk never waned, where the joy of his mere presence lifted your spirits.
But there were, literally, thousands who knew him just as well, if not better – and they packed Galway Cathedral to overflowing on Sunday. Former colleagues, former students, old friends, retired soldiers who loved the fact that he was their chaplain too and who accorded him a Guard of Honour as he left the Cathedral for the last time.
Those friends from all over also packed into Glann Church on Saturday – and the crowds who paid their respects at St Mary’s on Friday evening caused traffic jams as they queued in their multitudes to say goodbye.
His old school, where he’d been an integral part of its fabric – student, teacher, President, chaplin – for an incredible 52 years, did him proud on Friday with a Mass that captured him perfectly.
There was reverence, of course, but also humour. And this ceremony was punctuated with memories from so many people – former colleagues, fellow priests, distinguished past pupils and the current students who made you proud to have passed through the same classrooms and study halls.
They brought gifts to the altar that represented his values and life – from a basketball to a fishing rod to the red and black scarf in the College colours that he wore with such pride.
His fellow teachers may never make it on to X-Factor, but their version of the old seaman’s anthem, Fiddler’s Green – with the Corrib replacing the sea and the docks – has never been sung with more raw emotion in tribute to their old pal.
His great friend, the current President of St Mary’s, Fr Barry Hogg, and the school principal Ciaran Murphy, can be rightly proud of the part that they, the students and staff – past and present – played in ensuring an unforgettable send-off.
His fellow teacher – and closest colleague in the sense that his classroom was next door – Gerry Dempsey read a wonderfully evocative piece he’d written, entitled simply Neighbours.
“Between your room and mine,” he wrote, “there is a four inch block….three short steps. There we often spoke, sometimes of Science, Economics or Scripture, but mostly of matches, metaphysics, poets and people of character. Things that, to you, matters.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.