This week in 1985, the “Airport up in Knock” christened its first commercial flight after the heroic efforts of one stubborn Irish priest. What is the significance of this airport in the obscure town of Knock, you might be asking? It begins with Our Lady’s intercession and the fiery passion of Knock’s most beloved Monsignor, Father Horan.
Our Lady of Knock
Father Horan, at the time, was charged with the role of parish priest for the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock. This parish was the same place that the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and St.John the Apostle had appeared to 15 people in 1879. The apparition lasted two hours and included The Lamb on an altar while Mary, St. Joseph and St. John the Apostle stood to the left, reverencing the Sacrifice on the altar. With this apparition’s approval by Church authorities, the rural area of Knock began to teem with pilgrims from all over the world, coming to pay their due reverence to Our Lady’s apparition. By the time Fr. Horan was assigned to Knock, however, the area had become dilapidated.
Fr. Horan’s Dilemma
The roads surrounding the area were some of the worst in Ireland with the government providing little to repair them. The government had also decommissioned one of the railways that ran near the city which further isolated the area. “They might as well build a wall around Connacht and turn it into a bird sanctuary…,” Fr. Horan exclaimed. As transportation to the area became scarce, Fr. Horan watched his flock abandon Knock in search of better job opportunities. Fr. Horan saw his beautiful shrine, which is capable of holding 12,000 faithful, dwindle to minimal capacity. Faced with this dilemma, Fr. Horan began to scheme a way to not only enrich the town around Knock with plentiful job opportunities, but also to allow the pilgrims a convenient avenue to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock.
The answer?
An airport!
Except he had no money and he did not have permission from the government to do so.
“Monsignor,” said the interviewer, “what exactly is going on here?”
“What do you think is going on! We’re building an airport,” the priest shot back. “And I hope the Department of Transport doesn’t hear about it. Now don’t tell them . . . We’ve no money, but we’re hoping to get it next week, or the week after.”
The Airport
At the time of the interview, Fr. Horan had no money and no approval from the proper government authorities. This did not stop Fr. Horan, who made preemptive arrangements for the construction to begin. After deliberation with the local Fianna Fáil party leader, Charles Haughey, approval was miraculously won and partial funding was established. This did not last long as the next political election saw the Fiana Fáil party lose power and funding was withheld from the remaining parts of the project.
Through determination and a firm reliance on Our Lady’s intercession, Fr. Horan set out on a mission to gain the remaining 4 million euro that was required to finish the project from donors all over the world. The trip was a success, as Horan gained sympathy from churches in the United States and Australia. However, the long trip had taken a toll on his health. The airport was officially opened in May of 1986 and Monsignor Horan, realizing his dream was complete, died in July of that same year while on pilgrimage to Our Lady of Lourdes. As a final token of gratitude to Our Lady, he died while on pilgrimage to venerate Her.
Monsignor Horan did not die in vain as the airport quickly became the 4th busiest airport in Ireland with more than 700,000 passengers using it each year.
Holy Indifference and Finding Peace
The initial interview of Monsignor Horan with bulldozers in the background clearing out land is something beautiful. When asked about funding or approval, he laughs and says for the interviewer to not tell the department of transport, and how he is hoping to gain funding “next week or the week after.” Something that Fr. Horan exuberates that can easily be seen from the video is one thing, peace. In the face of immense odds, Fr. Horan is seen laughing and joking at how ridiculous his idea is, yet he still believes that it can be done!
How often have we been consumed by relatively small obstacles in our daily lives and allowed these barriers to disrupt our peace of soul? St. Francis de Sales describes this conscious act of leaving everything in God’s hands as “Holy Indifference”. In this sense, we are giving ourselves completely to the Divine Will and ‘not caring’ what happens to us as a result, because we know we will serve God no matter what happens to us. Fr. Horan was emanating this Holy Indifference and was completely at peace with whatever the result of his plan would be, even in the likely event it turned out to be a failure. “Take up my yoke upon you,” says our Blessed Lord, “and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: And you shall find rest to your souls.” True peace can only come to us if we meekly accept whatever God decides to send our way. “Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land,” is the second Beatitude. In this case, Fr. Horan demonstrates this quite literally! Learn from Fr. Horan and laugh in the face of the obstacles sent your way. Realize that everything that happens to you is sent to you from God for the salvation of your soul.
“And you shall find rest to your souls.”
Here is the documentary on the airport if you would like to learn more.
Here is the Irish song written by Christy Moore about Fr. Horan and the “Airport up in Knock”.
Monsignor Horan exemplified what my 2nd AA sponsor always told me: “Paul, if you have faith like a mustard and say to this mountain, ‘Be removed,’ it’ll be removed; but you got to pick up the shovel and start shovelling.” His sponsor was a priest and the confessor for my 4th & 5th step moral inventory; he would just stand there beside us with a big smile on his face.
No sanction from the dept of whatever.
Did he clear it with the parish council?!?
The diocesan office of general obstruction!?!
Look how much we have lost in our church leaders in 40 years. Apparently, they used to… lead.
The story is really better than this. I sometimes use it in presentations on strategic goals. Monsignor Horan met his parish council and announced three goals: 1. Build the biggest church in Ireland and have it named a basilica. 2. Build an international airport. 3. Bring the Pope to Knock. He delivered all three. Like St Teresa of Jesus, his reliance on providence also involved lots of human charm and arm twisting.
What a great story! Thank you for this inspiring piece of history.