Fr. Neal Carlin Columba Community 1940 - 2021 AD
Fr Neal died on the 6th August 2021 and I am inserting here a tribute that was written to / for him which decorates the wall as you enter the I.O.S.A.S. Centre in County Donegal adjacent to Whiteoaks Rehabilitation Centre. As it is lengthy I would strongly advise that you read it here first and maybe once or twice as the content is quite profound.
Ordained to the priesthood in 1964, Fr Neal spent his nine early years of priesthood in Motherwell, Scotland before returning home to minister in St Eugenes Cathedral, Derry, at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. He worked in Saint Eugenes Cathedral for three years and while there organised regular prayer meetings in Saint Josephs Intermediate School in the city.
After a period of prayer and discernment he took the brave step of leaving his post at St Eugenes and buying, founding and opening Columba House of Prayer and Reconciliation in Columba House, in Queen Street in Derry, reaching out to prisoners, their families and those in need. Visitation to Prisons in Northern Ireland was a major plank in that work. The foundational scripture text for Columba House is
“Listen to the prayer and grant the requests of your servant Yahweh my God, listen to the cries and to the prayer of your servant in this place. Day and night let your eyes watch over this house, where you have promised your name would be. Hear the prayers of your servant and grant the requests of your people Israel...listen from your dwelling place in heaven and forgive...”
2 Chronicles 6
He felt the Holy Spirit guiding him to found a Basic Christian Community, The Columba Community built on the pillars of Prayer, Community, Evangelisation Reconciliation and Repentance.
Responding to the promptings of The Holy Spirit, Fr.Neal and the Community accepted a gift of an old farmhouse and a few acres of land in Donegal just over the border from Derry City. There they develpoed Saint Anthonys Retreat Centre and have encouraged retreatants to use the text, "You have only to be still and I will do the fighting for you"
Exodus 14.!4
Over the years people needing help with addiction came to all the centres and Fr.Neal discerned with The Community that the Lord was calling the Community to work in this area. In 2001 Whiteoaks Rehabilitation Centre was opened offering residential help to people with an addiction to alcohol drugs or gambling. Fr Neal passionately believed in the great love of God for each one of us particularly in our times of weakness and in his unending mercy and compassion. These themes he explored with the residents.
He once wrote "As time passed a profound but simple truth became more and more evident, that is, that the entire biblical story is one of God's strength and power being manifest in the weakness of people who believed in him and waited upon him."
For many years Fr Neal had dreamt of a Celtic Prayer Garden dedicated to the Irish saints, men and women who knew their need of God and whose love for Him led them into ordinary and extraordinary acts of service. He described the Iosas Centre and Celtic Prayer Garden as “the jewel in the crown of all the foundations.” His hope was always that as people walked in the Garden, reflected on the lives of the saints (small excerpts in the Garden Guide Booklet or look them up on google) they would be inspired by their charisms and would be led to serve others.
How do we describe Fr Neal? He was quite simply a man who loved God and people. He was a listener, blessed by the Spirit with gifts of wisdom and insight. He had a special concern for the poor and those on the margins and a gift of discernment that allowed him to see into the heart of things. Those who came for prayer for healing met a compassionate, gentle heart whose prayers were often answered by physical healing. His prophetic leadership inspired so many to see beyond themselves and open up to a world filled with possibilities.
He lived daily the text given to Him by the Lord,
“They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall rise up on wings as eagles, they shall walk and not grow weary they shall run and not faint, teach me Lord, teach me Lord to wait.
Isaiah 41
After a debilitating illness Fr Neal went home to the Lord he loved, and died on 6th August 2021 the Feast of the Transfiguration. May his gentle soul rest in peace.
Some relevant excerpts from his work
“We have to recover our Celtic past- the joy of God,
the mystery that calls us to share the dance which is about being together
"in communion with every man and woman.
It is not about being the same but daring to be different within the embrace of God."
It is about seeing / experiencing God in all things
and joining the great dance of all people and all of creation”
When we know Jesus,we know the source of Love and love casts out fear.
When we know Jesus we fear nothing as we know we will never walk alone.
Jesus will restore your strength - and bring you healing.
He will carry you to shelter.
We will find the risen Jesus.
We meet him in the garden of our souls
when we are at peace in our own soil - the soil of our being."
Our prayer is that the story of Jesus and the power of the Spirit at work
will reveal to you God's love.
May you hear His still small voice amidst the ups and downs
and zigzags of your personal journey.
May the Holy Spirit that led our Celtic Saints into Europe to spread the good news, put a new hope and light in your life - an awareness
that the Lord Jesus goes beside you as you walk along."
Over the years we waited, we prayed, we built.
We also struggled, wept, and indeed laughed.
Remember life is what takes place as we wait for something else to happen.
May that something else for you be the the fullness that is stored up for us in Heaven"
Picture taken after Mass at Whiteoaks on 9th June (feast of Saint Columba)
2015
Neal Carlin 1940 - 2021
