by Michael Devlin
A DONEGAL priest says he will hang up his vestments this weekend for the last time with “gratitude, appreciation and sadness.”
Fr Declan Boland (76), who has been Camus Parish Priest at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Strabane for the past 25 years, is stepping down at the end of the month.
However this weekend will bring to conclusion, his own role within the parish.
Originally from Moville, Fr Boland, who previously served in Pennyburn in Derry, celebrated his golden jubilee in the priesthood in 2023.
“It has been my greatest, happiest privilege to have served here for the past 25 years,” he said this week. “It has been an amazing, faith-filled and warm community in Strabane; that I have had the honour to serve. It has been a joy.”
Fr Boland had been due to retire last year but was given a dispensation to stay on for another 12 months because of the ongoing restoration work taking place at the Church of the Immaculate Conception.
“Half of my priesthood was in Strabane,” Fr Boland continued.
“Although, in a way, I should never have been here at all. Fr James Clerkin, my predecessor, died at the age of 66 and he should have been here for another ten years.
“I just happened to be next in line at the time. I’m stepping down as a PP after next week but I said to the bishop that I would make myself available at weekends and to cover for emergencies. So after a few weeks off, I’ll be still around, covering masses and so on.”
Having visited the sick for the last time this week, Fr Boland admits that there is a certain sadness within the parish ahead of his departure.
“Of course there’s a sadness there,” he said. “You build up a huge rapport with people over the years, sometimes in difficult circumstances.
“There is a certain sense of loss. Some of the young adults have been saying to me, that I’m the only priest they have ever known within the parish. They said, ‘It’s as if we’re losing a member of the family.’
“People do feel sad but they are also realistic.”
He concluded, “In 25 years I have never met anything but support… I feel gratitude, appreciation and sadness.
“But everything is balanced by a great sense of appreciation.”
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