The Late JP Cusack The former Archbishop of Tuam, Most Rev. Dr Joseph Cassidy was the Principal Concelebrant at the Funeral Mass of Mr. J.P. Cusack of Athenry Road, Loughrea, which was celebrated in St. Brendan's Cathedral, Loughrea. The Bishop of Clonfert, Most Rev, Dr John Kirby, presided and the other Concelebrants were Right Rev. Monsignor Edward Stankard, Very Rev. Fr Cathal Geraghty Adm, Very Rev Fr Ritchie Higgins PP, Very Rev Fr John Naughton PP; Fr Thomas Plower, Fr Alan Burke, Fr Frank Quinn O.D.C., Fr Brendan McGuinness and Fr Kieran O'Rourke. The attendants at the Removal and funeral ceremonies were large and representative and Guards of Honour were provided by members of the GAA, Loughrea Golf Club (of which Mr Cusack was a past Captain), reflecting Mr Cusack's deep involvement with his local community - that involvement being the subject of a special tribute by Bishop Kirby and Very Rev. Fr Cathal Geraghty. Mr. Cusack was a founding Chairman of Scor, a former County Chairman of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, and was the first team Manager of the Galway Minor Hurling Team in an era when the foundations were laid for the later county successes at Under 21 and senior level for the Galway sides of the seventies and eighties. Also in attendance at the ceremonies were representatives of the media and advertising industries. Mr Cusack was a former Sales and Marketing Manager with the Connacht Tribune newspapers, and was a Director of the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland. The attendance included the Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Connacht Tribune Newspapers, Mr Tim Naughton; members of the Board of Directors; General Manager Mr David O'Brien; Editor John Cunningham, and Sales and Marketing Manager Ms Sabina Sheppard. In the Homily of the Mass, Archbishop Joseph Cassidy paid a special tribute to Mr Cusack. Said Dr. Cassidy; "I have often wondered, whether when a person is dying, he or she should be told. I'm sure you have wondered about it too. What should we do? Tell a person the truth perhaps and kill the hope within? Or leave the truth unspoken and keep the hope intact? I suppose it will vary from person to person from situation to situation! There can never be an dilemma like that. It can be a very sad thing though, if even surrounded by family, a person is dying alone - it the person and the members of the family inhabit two different worlds, if the heavy burden of dying is not acknowledged and shared, if the words that are deepest in our hearts are forever left unspoken. " I say this because when J.P. Cusack was dying he sensed it for himself, he knew it in himself and because no attempt was made to disabuse him of that, he and his family could share it. So the interaction between him and them in his final days was beautiful to behold. The love they had so obviously shared together all their lives was brought not to a conclusion but to a climax. It had to be a huge consolation for all of them, especially for himself. He had been a great family man in his health. He remained that in his final illness. Love of family was his dominant characteristic. It set the seal on his life and it was celebrated with great warmth and intensity before his death. There was only one world where the Cusack family were concerned. And no word that needed to be said was left unspoken. "Apart from the family, which was his primary concern, J.P. was a great community man as well. He was all of that in several ways. He was a member of a number of organisations, to which he gave of his best, such as the G.A.A. the Golf Club, the Cathedral Choir and so forth. He was a great community man in his work, as Manager of the Cotton Factory here in Loughrea and later on for 22 years as Sales and Marketing Manager for The Connacht Tribune. To both of these roles he brought the kind of qualities on which every community depends - competence, commitment and reliability. He was the man with the safe pair of hands, the one on whom you could rely, the one who would deliver today and could be counted on for tomorrow. He was the kind of man on whom society depends for stability, productivity and integrity. In one short sentence he was your quintessential sould man." Dr Cassidy added the J.P. was a great community man in a third way, in that he had an innate feeling for people. He was inoffensive in his ways, gentle in his manner, kindly in his nature, generous in his disposition, helpful and sympathetic to those who were in need. None of these things should surprise us in a way because apart from what he inherited in his genes and the natural gifts with which he was endowed, he had a strong spiritual life. We were not talking about an icon. We were talking about a human being with faults and failings like the rest of us. What one could day though, in his own humble way, sought to reflect in his life, the compassion of Christ, the faithfulness of Mary, and the attention to little things that distinguished the Little Flower. J.P. wasn't just a nice man. He was a very spiritual man too. Dr. Cassidy continued: "My dear friends, many people have died in this parish since I left here as bishop in 1987. Many of them you'll have known very well. All of them had a distinct character and life experience of their own. Each of them had a unique consciousness. None of them wanted to die. All of them - as long as things were bearable - would cling tenaciously to life. That's the human instinct that's what we're programmed for - that's the propulsion within us that makes us want to go on. If we have a choice between oblivion and lasting happiness - the latter is what we'll choose. The question is - are our instincts misplaced? Are our hopes in vain? I made a light hearted reference to Heaven a moment ago but is there a heaven there at all? "Is the only choice we've really got the choice between the coffin and the urn? It's not a question that should be casually answered or dismissed. All I'll say now is that there are indications in the beauty and order in the world and in the longings implanted in the human heart -that apart from this universe there is a designing intelligence. A person called Jesus whose integrity is not in question, told us in an astonishing revelation that there is a designing intelligence and that he should be addressed as Father. "Our Father who art in Heaven....". If Jesus rose from the dead..... and the number of Risen appearances he made is very compelling - then we can certainly take him at his word. His followers who had no reason to make things up - and who would hardly be prepared to die for their own fiction have recorded some of the extraordmiary things that Jesus said......" I am the Resurrection and the life ... whoever believes in me- will never die." And then that wonderfully conclusive sentence - not the one he passed on the Good Thief but the one with which he immortalised him - 'This day you will be with me in Paradise." It's nearly too much to hope for. Yet hope for it we do. We pray now that J.P. Cusack's hopes and fulfiled - that he has began to enjoy with Jesus the happiness of Heaven. He won't be idle up there. He'll be put in charge of something, given something to manage. And central to his new role will be continuing concern for his beloved family. The interaction we talked about at the beginning will continue to go on. The love will go on and the prayer. That will be part of J.P's heaven. May it be a source of great consolation to his heartbroken family here on earth. May they be sustained but all he meant to them and by his life's legacy until they are all united as a family once again," Dr Cassidy concluded. The soloists at the Mass, which was sung by the Cathedral Choir, of which Mr Cusack was a long serving member, were - Mr Timmy Lynch, a lifelong friend of Mr Cusack's, Mr Cusack's grandson, James Conway; and Mr Pat Barrett, a family friend and choir member. Mr Cusack is survived by his wife Cellie, his daughters Marcella Roche (Masonbrook, Loughrea), Patricia Walsh (Castlebar); his son, Alan (Melbourne) and his partner Melanie Coote (Melbourne); sons-in-law John Roche and Jimmy Walsh; brother Tomas (Tully Lower, Loughrea); sisters, Mrs Marie Pavelin (Kent), Mrs Margaret Payne (Manchester), Mrs Olive Lupton (Rochdale, Manchester), Mrs Ann Hepburn (Bury, Manchester). Courtesy of the Connacht Tribune 27th May 2005 Tweet

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