Msgr. Mullins has cared for, inspired thousands

The Irish-born priest has seen many changes over nearly six centuries as he’s ministered to the people of God in south Alabama and northwest Florida.

PEGGY DEKEYSER | FLORIDA CATHOLIC PENSACOLA-TALLAHASSEE BUREAU EDITOR

Posted: 10.23.09

Msgr. Raymond Mullins

PENSACOLA | In his more than 57 years as a priest, Msgr. Raymond Mullins has seen many changes as he’s ministered to the people of God in south Alabama and northwest Florida.

He came to his vocation quite naturally. Born into a “very religious family” in Limerick, Ireland, he grew up surrounded by Catholic churches. “There was the parish church and its satellite church, then there were the religious order churches: Jesuit, Redemptorist, Franciscan, Augustinian and Dominican – all within easy walking distance,” he said in a recent interview.

“The priesthood was seen as a very prestigious job, if you will, in those days. It was the peak of religion in Ireland, a time that sadly has long since passed. Most Irish boys would have thought about being a priest. My brother thought about being a Franciscan and went through the novitiate, but later decided that it wasn’t his vocation. He’s married with children and grandchildren,” Msgr. Mullins said.

At that time in Ireland, there was a great surplus of priests, and many who enrolled in seminary were destined to be sent to other English-speaking countries where priests were not in such abundance. Following his graduation from a Jesuit high school – a minor seminary for the English-speaking foreign missions – Msgr. Mullins enrolled at St. Patrick’s College Carlow, at the time a major seminary. A number of priests who have served the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee studied at St. Patrick’s, which now operates as Carlow College, a college of the humanities for laypeople.

WHY CONSIDER BEING A PRIEST?

Msgr. Mullins would offer this answer to a young man who asked this question:

If you think about the Gospel for Oct. 10 (Mk 10:17-30), the rich young man who goes away sad, I think that first of all, it has to be something that you’re not under compulsion to do. It’s an invitation that the Lord gives us. If we follow him, he promises us a hundredfold in this life and eternal life in the next. I must say over the years I’ve been spoiled by the people in every parish; the people are so good to us. I’ve had wonderful friends who are priests – unfortunately many of them have gone on ahead of me. We all are called to serve the Lord, whether as fathers and mothers or however. There are some who the Lord whispers to, to leave father and mother and children and lands. I thank the Lord that I was called to serve the people in parishes here in Florida – and not in Minnesota!

As an example, Msgr. Mullins told of Father Dennis Killian, who when he was ordained for the Irish Diocese of Elphin found that there were no positions for him in the diocese. His bishop instructed the young priest to get a job, saying that he’d be recalled when they were ready for him. Father Killian heard that the Bishop of Mobile, Ala., Bishop Thomas Toolen, was looking for priests and that it was “nice and warm” in Mobile, so he departed the Emerald Isle for Alabama. Eight years later, Father Killian was recalled to his Irish diocese, and newly ordained Father Mullins took his place in Mobile. “I didn’t realize how warm it was until I got here!”

His first posting, from March 1953 to September 1962, was at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Mobile, just up the street from the Visitation Monastery. For the next four months, he served as the assistant pastor for north Alabama – the five counties north of Birmingham.

In January of 1963, he crossed the state line into Florida to serve at St. Joseph Parish in Pensacola. Unfamiliar with the city, he had visited only a few times before his assignment to the thriving parish with its two elementary schools, a high school, three outlying chapels and Our Lady of the Angels maternity hospital. Shortly after his arrival at St. Joseph, another graduate of St. Patrick’s College Carlow arrived to assist him: then-Father Michael Mooney. They were also helped by four Franciscan and eight Charity sisters, one of whom is Sister Maureen Kirwan, who still serves at the parish.

In 1971, Msgr. Mullins was appointed pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, and when the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee was established in 1975, he became the first rector of the cathedral. From April 1976 to 1992, he served at Little Flower Parish, then from 1992 to 1999 at St. Mary Parish in Fort Walton Beach.

In 1999, after 47 years of ministry, Msgr. Mullins resigned as pastor from St. Mary’s, but continued to serve as the associate pastor at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart until 2002. During that year, he covered Holy Spirit Parish for a number of weeks after the death of Msgr. James Amos until a new pastor could be assigned.

He said he now enjoys not running a parish. “I don’t have to worry about finances or leaky roofs.”

In a role reversal, he has resided and served at Nativity of Our Lord Parish in Pensacola since that time, where his one-time associate, Msgr. Michael Mooney, is pastor.

Although he’s listed as a “senior priest” – a title that should allow for some retirement rest and relaxation – Msgr. Mullins stays very busy. Nativity of Our Lord Parish has the distinction of having 17 nursing homes, one general hospital and two hospice residences within its boundaries.

“This parish is very blessed. We have wonderful eucharistic ministers,” Msgr. Mullins said. He spends a couple of days each week making the rounds of the facilities, hearing confessions and celebrating the sacrament of the anointing of the sick, but the parish also relies on its lay ministers to regularly bring Communion to patients.

“I always give thanks to God, when I visit the nursing homes, that I’m in good health and able to be up and about. Of course, when the time comes, if that’s God’s will, that will be fine, too,” the 81-year-old said.

In addition to his nursing home and hospital rounds, Msgr. Mullins makes it a point to visit the parish’s religious education classrooms each week. He especially enjoys hearing the confessions of young people preparing for first Communion and for Christmas and Easter, and working with the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. He also regularly celebrates weekday and Sunday Masses at the parish.

“Few things have changed more since Vatican II than confession,” he said. “When we were kids in Ireland, we were shoved into confession on Saturday afternoon; then we went to the movies. If you didn’t behave, you didn’t go to the movies. Confessions used to be much more mechanical. And people routinely went every Saturday. Of course, at the same time, many fewer people received Communion each week. Now, since Vatican II, there’s been a vast increase in the reception of Communion, and a decline in confessions. At one time, we would have two priests in a parish hearing confessions for three hours on a Saturday. Now it’s one priest for 45 minutes, and he has time to pray his office between penitents.”

Always quick with a joke, Msgr. Mullins told of the young boy who came out of the confessional very sad and told his teacher, “Father told me to say three Hail Marys, and I only know one.”

Changes in the rules for the eucharistic fast have caused another shift in the reception of Communion, Msgr. Mullins said. “When the fast began at midnight, attendance at early Masses was much higher, and the early Masses had the most number of people receiving Communion. The later in the day the Mass was, the fewer people received Communion. That’s why we had things like ladies’ sodalities, to get their members to receive Communion at least once a month. It was almost too much reverence. My mother would never have dreamed of receiving Communion without having gone to confession first. Now, the more people go to Communion, the less they go to confession. Now it’s quite normal to hear someone say, ‘It’s been a year since my last confession.’”

He pointed out that it was Irish monks in the Middle Ages who introduced devotional confession with an appreciation for the grace-giving nature of the sacrament.

Msgr. Mullins also spoke of the advantages of modern technology. In his early days as a priest, as the Sunday sun rose higher in the sky, the Masses got shorter; there was no homily and no singing because the churches weren’t air-conditioned.

One of his recent pleasures has been to perform the marriage of his grand-niece in Barcelona, Spain, this past summer. His brother lives in Dublin and his sister lives in Limerick. The youngest sister in the family died at age 21, the year after he first came to Alabama. He enjoys an annual summer visit to Ireland to spend time with family.

“I hope that the Lord leaves me with reasonably good physical and mental health. I had bypass heart surgery in 2001. That was my first time ever in hospital. I would find it very hard to retire in a sense. I would rather do what I’m doing. Besides, at this time in my life I wouldn’t want to learn to cook.”

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