Doing God’s work: Friend’s ordination leads to pilgrimage to Indiana

Francis McDermott, a member of St. Austin Parish in Ormskirk, Lancashire, in northwestern England, praises God and Mary in prayer as he listens to Holy Trinity parishioner Kay DeHart sing “Ave Maria” during Father Rick Nagel’s first Mass of Thanksgiving on June 3 at Holy Trinity Church in Edinburgh.

By Mary Ann Wyand

EDINBURGH—Wherever he goes in his wheelchair, Francis McDermott shares his faith by talking about his love for Jesus and Mary.

A native of Dublin, Ireland, who works as a teacher in Ormskirk, Lancashire, in northwestern England, McDermott traveled to Indianapolis on May 29 because Deacon Rick Nagel—with Deacons Thomas Kovatch and Randall Summers—was being ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein on June 2 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral.

McDermott also wanted to participate in Father Nagel’s first Mass of Thanksgiving on June 3 at Holy Trinity Church in Edinburgh.

They met while on pilgrimage to Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, in 2006 when Nagel—then a seminarian at Saint Meinrad School of Theology—and Father Richard Eldred—then pastor of St. Thomas More Parish in Mooresville—and several other men helped carry McDermott up Mount Krizevac, the Hill of the Cross, at the Marian shrine.

“It was the second time I’ve been to Medjugorje,” McDermott recalled. “I went in 1993 during the war, and I wanted to go back to see Our Lady and see how the country had changed since the war.

“They offered to carry me up Mount Krizevac in a chair,” he said. “It was a wonderful time. They just lifted me up the mountain, and as we were going along more and more people helped them. It was a very humbling experience. I couldn’t believe it. I tried to pray the rosary, but I was too emotional half of the time. It was so touching to be served in such a way.”

The Catholic Church has not sanctioned Medjugorje as an official Marian apparition site like the shrines at Lourdes, France, and Fatima, Portugal. However, McDermott believes that he saw Mary appear near Apparition Hill and tell him to trust her Divine Son while he prayed the rosary for God’s protection during a missile strike in a nearby field in 1993.

“The rosary is a very powerful prayer,” he said. “One time I was praying it when I was in the hospital and was in a lot of pain. Our Lady came and laid her hand on me and the pain disappeared.”

Since the Medjugorje pilgrimage in 2006, the men have kept in touch by cell phone calls and e-mail so McDermott wanted to share his friend’s special day.

He arranged a trans-Atlantic flight to America and stayed at a motel in Franklin. Holy Trinity parishioners provided transportation for him to the ordination Mass as well as a Nagel family party in Trafalgar and Father Nagel’s Mass of Thanksgiving at Holy Trinity Church.

Holy Trinity parishioners Don and Barbara Pierse of Edinburgh were his hosts on May 31 and June 1.

“We picked him up on Thursday and took him around a bit in Indianapolis,” Barbara Pierse said, “... then brought him back to Holy Trinity, where he got to be in the hubbub of all the wonderful preparations” for the Mass and parish luncheon.

“It was a pleasure to help him,” Don Pierse said. “He’s such a dear man. He talked about what he’s done in his life, and that he feels he is called to draw people to the priesthood.”

Cerebral palsy prevents McDermott from realizing his dream of becoming a priest, but faith and hope bolster him while he does God’s work as a teacher and by evangelizing people every day.

A member of St. Austin Parish in Ormskirk, McDermott teaches high school science classes as a substitute teacher, and is studying psychology and neurology at a local college.

“Since my early 20s, I have felt called to religious life … but because of my physical disability it was difficult,” he said. “So I prayed to the Lord initially to take the desire away from me because it was so painful to go to Mass, and to have the desire to be a priest but not be able to do it. But the thought of not having the desire was worse than living with the desire and not being a priest.”

About six years ago, McDermott promised God that he would focus on praying for vocations to the priesthood and religious life every day.

“I vowed to the Lord from a very early age that I would serve the Church,” McDermott said, “which I do mainly by praying for young men in seminaries and for priests. … A lot of people forget that priests need prayer to sustain them in their ministry.”

His prayer for Father Nagel as a newly ordained priest reflects his own love for God.

“I pray that the love that he has for people will continue to grow,” McDermott said, “and that the Lord will use his love for the Eucharist and his Blessed Mother to help him encourage other young men to come into the priesthood and religious life.” †