Fr Jim Cogley
Had I not become a priest it is very likely I would have chosen a career at sea. Paradoxically in responding to that call I virtually ended up with a career at sea that spanned over thirty years. From involvement with the RNLI to deep sea fishing with my own small boat. I then had the opportunity to delivered boats with a friend between Ireland and the UK and as a cruise chaplain I got to see a lot of the world. The sea was in my blood and for all of those years I could never see myself without that passion. Yet when the time came to leave Kilmore Quay after 28 years I never really missed what had been such a big part of my life. The only conclusion I could come to was, that it was a huge portion of my life that I had lived to the full, and because of that I could gracefully leave it behind. This seems to be true of life in general; the more we live our lives to the fullest possible extent the easier it will be to let it go, whereas it will be the unlived life, with its myriad of regrets, that will come back to haunt us when the final curtain is about to be drawn.