Midlands man looking for financial help to become priest

Midlands man Darrell Lally is seeking financial assistance in order to become a priest.

Darrell is an Irish seminarian of the Institute of Christ the King.

“I believe,” he says, “I have felt a call to the priesthood since my very early childhood years. I always pestered the priests in my parish about the priesthood, asking them when I could go to a seminary.”

He said that when he entered secondary school he received much opposition from his peers on the subject of becoming a priest, “however I wanted more than ever to go to a seminary. Towards the end of school I became very interested in the chanting of the divine office and the beautiful traditional liturgical ceremonies of the Church and I found as a result the Institute of Christ the King in the Church of the Sacred Heart in Limerick. The first time that I went there was to attend a solemn High Mass, and I fell in love with the traditional Latin Mass.”

After he finished school he joined the Institute of Christ the King in October 2018 as a candidate by entering one of the institute's formation houses in Preston England where he learned the rhythm of apostolic life. He then spent a second year in Naples Italy, again as a candidate.

In September 2020 he was accepted to the institute's seminary known as Gricigliano in Florence Italy. “After completing my first academic year in spirituality I received the holy cassock from our prior general Monseigneur Gilles Wach and I was tonsured and made a cleric by his eminence Leo Ramond Cardinal Burke. I have since received three minor Orders of Porter, Lector and Exorcist and am preparing this year to receive the final minor Order of Acolyte before the major Orders to come, God willing.

“I love my studies very much and I have finished my studies of philosophy and now I am entering into four years of theology. My prayer life is also very active in the seminary especially through participation in the holy liturgy.

“In the seminary, along with prayer and sacred studies, manual work also plays an important role in our priestly and human formation. I was very glad to be able to put my artistic experience to good use, in restoring many things and areas in the seminary that were once highly decorated but have since deteriorated over the years, before the institute had occupied the building. This year I finished my second major project of restoring one of the common rooms which was once richly decorated.

“Unfortunately, unlike prayerful support, I do not have much financial assistance as my absence from my home country renders it difficult to find benefactors to support Irish vocations. The seminary costs are about €800 per month per seminarian. This tuition goes towards our studies, books, food, heating and other costs which concern the formation.”
Darrell has set up a GoFundMe page and so far has raised €5,000 of a €30,000 target.

“I ask you kindly to please support me if possible,” he writes on the GoFundMe page. “Ireland needs good priests and my wish is to be one for her and especially for our holy mother the Church.”

Many people in Birr think highly of Darrell and see him as a sincere man with a genuine vocation, who is also gifted artistically.

On the popular Facebook page “(Well Mush) Birr Memories Old and New” Dickie Donnelly urges people to support Darrell. Dickie points out that “There is more than Religion involved here. This is a Birr man following his dreams and beliefs for the good of all the world.”

“Darrell is a lovely, kind young man,” wrote another person on the page, “who has a special faith.”
“I'm delighted,” wrote another, “to see Darrell using his wonderful artistic talent in restoration work in the seminary.”