What the dying most regret is how they conducted their relationships, lay chaplain Neal Dunnigan says. “They can feel they didn’t spend enough time, or quality time, with people to get to know them properly or help someone close to them.” Dunnigan, an American lay Franciscan, had a long career as a technology manager and consultant.
Living in Oklahoma with his wife, he wanted to do something more meaningful in retirement. “From talking to people in various prisons and hospitals, I felt I should train to be a chaplain,” Dunnigan says. “I had been a lay Franciscan for several years by then.
His wife, Virginia, joined him in chaplaincy training, although she no longer practises; she works as an artist. After a visit to Ireland — where they met a Mercy Order associate in charge of training chaplains — Dunnigan and his wife were encouraged to continue their training here, with their credits interchangeable. After their first year of training in Ireland, in 2018, the couple decided to stay here.
(Neal Dunnigan’s grandmother, from Glennamaddy, emigrated to the US at 14, allowing him to obtain an Irish passport; Virginia has been granted citizenship.) Having graduated as a chaplain and trained at Cork University Hospital, Dunnigan felt there were few opportunities in the traditional hospital environment for his role. As a result, he established Cork Community Chaplaincy Services.
It operates on a non-denominational, inter-faith, inclusive community chaplaincy model .