'Thank you for taking me in' Fr Norman marks five years working in Mullingar Parish

Regan Kelly

Five years go by in the blink of an eye, and for one familiar face around Mullingar, that has definitely been the case.

Fr Norman Allred arrived at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 and was ordained that September.

Norman was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, his father’s family being Mormon pioneers. His father was sent to India during the second world war, and that is where he met Norman’s mother, who was a devout Catholic.

Norman said: “I was raised as a Catholic in Mormon Utah, which is mad because a Catholic is already a kind of rare thing in Utah.”

As Norman attended Catholic schools across the state, he was moved to St Anne’s School, where he met his future wife in a setting straight out of a romantic movie.

“When I entered the classroom, there was a girl standing in the corner, and her name was Joanne Mooney.

“We were friends for years and years, all through grade school and elementary school. She seemed to have developed a crush on me when we were 14.

“Me being the clueless guy that I was, I had no idea. Around the same time, I really wanted to be a Missionary priest, but one day, at around 16, I said to myself that I wanted to marry her.”

Norman continued: “At that point, the Church made me choose, and I chose her. I proposed to her years later and finally squeezed a yes out of her, and we got married. We were married for just under 25 years.”

During his married life, Norman worked as a teacher and an administrator at a Catholic high school in Utah, teaching English.

Then he received some life-changing news, and he explains it best: “I was in the middle of teaching when, on February 27, 2014, Joanne had a brain haemorrhage, and she was dead in a week.

“We didn’t have children, so it was like I lost my whole family, and I had to ask myself, ‘Who am I now?’.

“It was shortly after this that a little voice told me you could think about being a priest, and then a few months later another voice told me that I should spend a month in Ireland because I had always wanted to live here.”

Norman spoke more about Joanne: “The importance of entering the sacrament of matrimony with Joanne was central. The notion of matrimony, when God makes you one, it’s the most important thing that he has ever asked you to do.

“Of course, now, I am well aware of it now that she is gone. I’m half a man; the way I see it is we were one person.

“Now that she is gone, I’m torn to the core; the wound has scarred over so that I can function.

“My new life, though, I’ve built this on the ruins of my marriage, and I now see my priesthood has been substantially released from a lot of worry, so I can focus on this.”

In a heartfelt line, Norman concluded: “I brought my wife’s ashes over from America, and now we have a grave site in Durrow, so she is buried just down the road, and I will also be buried beside her when my time comes.” It was during that month that the idea came to Norman to try and become a priest in Ireland instead of the US, with the aim of retiring here. He would use that month in summer 2014 to ask diocese around the country if it would be possible, and made it his aim to do so.

Turbulent times weren’t over just yet for Norman, though. When he returned to America in 2014, he encountered some problems.

“I went back to the US and found out that my basement had flooded, so I had to get the basement stripped out and start getting out of the house that my wife and I had.

“Then, that autumn, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and I had to start treatment for that. So, the priesthood questions kind of went on the back burner until I figured out what was happening.

“A year later then, they said everything was clear and at that point I began enquiries with the Diocese of Ireland.”

Norman would have conversations with Bishop Smith, and he was chosen to go to Rome for four years to study.

Finishing up in March of 2020, that was it for Norman, and he finally became a priest in Ireland.

Norman said: “I was ordained on that September 20, and I’ve been here ever since. The Bishop has never decided to move me to any other spot. I often wonder if he is trying to keep an eye on me!”

One thing is clear: Norman loves his life in Mullingar; he has settled in comfortably and has a good relationship with parishioners.

“I love it here, I’ve got lovely accommodation, enough space for me to unpack my American furniture that I had to ship over.

“I have even started violin lessons again, I got myself some pet birds, and lots of plants. The ministry is lovely, I love having the chance to be with people frequently when they most need it.”

Mental health awareness is important, and at some stage in all of our lives, we may need to speak to someone. Norman believes that the Church can play a role in that.

He said: “People will come to me, they are alcoholics or they are drug addicts, or have long-standing mental health issues, some have really broken or problematic paths in life.

“One of the things I found that works really well is the sacrament for the anointing of the sick, and I tend to view that rather liberally and give it out for the sacrament for healing.

“This will forgive their sins and put them into God’s hands for healing, which means they also need to be in whatever treatment programme is necessary, so that they can get the necessary social supports for it. I really see this as a gift, to be able to reach out and serve people for these remaining 15 or so years of my life.”

Norman was asked his opinions for the future of the Church, not just in Ireland but worldwide.

“Synodality creates a mechanism by which bishops can hear directly from the people of God, in a dependable and representative kind of way. This approach is part of a new system to gather real information, and priests and clerics are running it, so we may get a balanced sense of what the Church needs.

“I have a lot of hope for synods, and I think it is critical that the lay people of the Church, the married people, have things they need to say about the Church directly, and it would be great to hear from them.”

It’s been a busy 10 years for Norman, and he has taken it in his stride. One thing is clear from our conversation: he loves helping people and won’t stop doing that, no matter the hurdles that life throws at him.

Norman offered one final message for his parishioners: “My eternal thanks and gratefulness go out to the people of Mullingar for accepting this crazy American who said, Gee, I want to come here and be your priest.

“Thank you for taking me in. You could just as easily have told the Bishop to send this crazy man back, so thank you.

“I have my citizen application in, so hopefully one day I can take the oath and have that Irish identity myself.”