Former Aisling Center director leaves church

By Stephen McKinley

The beloved former chaplain and executive director at the Aisling Irish Center in Yonkers, Fr. Tom Flynn, is believed to have left the priesthood after he returned to Ireland in late July.

Close associates and friends of Flynn said that he had decided to take a “leave of absence,” and that it is not known if he would return to the priesthood. They attacked rumors that they said have been circulating that Flynn had left the priesthood in order to get married.

“He has taken a leave of absence to gather himself,” said Tom Riordan, his friend and colleague from the Aisling Center. “It’s his decision and his privacy. He did not get married. He did not father any children. There are thousands of rumors floating around about him.”

But Riordan said that he could confirm Flynn has left the priesthood.

“He has for all intents and purposes left the priesthood. He may and he may not return to the priesthood,” he said.

A benefit and farewell party in July at Rory Dolan’s attracted a large crowd of locals to say goodbye. Many especially remembered his strength in the community in the dark days after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Another colleague and Aisling Center volunteer, Mary Tuohy, said that Flynn might have been unhappy about leaving his job as chaplain of the center, where he had worked for seven years. Flynn was a well-respected and beloved member of the Woodlawn and Yonkers community, she said.

“He would have loved to have stayed,” Tuohy said. “When you are here so long, you know, and we have a great community here. But the bishops in Ireland said, ‘We don’t have enough priests to send out,’ and he was asked back to Ireland. He has taken a leave of absence. Currently, he is not assigned to any parish.”

A long-time Woodlawn resident, Jimmy Quinn, who knew Flynn well, also attacked the rumors that Flynn had quit because he had decided to marry.

“There’s no truth to that,” Quinn said. “He took a year off. That was all rumor. There are absolutely no grounds to it at all.”

Tuohy said that Flynn’s work at the center and in the Irish community was of huge importance, and that it was especially important that he was from Ireland.

“He is a great loss to us,” she said. “Even now we get calls from newly arrived people. I had a call last night from a young man who needed someone to christen his child.

“It is important that it is someone from Ireland. There’s the same language, and the same family background. That is why we have Irish psychotherapists in the center, because they understand Irish family life.”

While Flynn may have taken a leave of absence, Riordan said that he was working as a counselor.

“His second love was counseling and he is actively counseling in Ireland right now,: he said. “He spent a lot of money and a lot of time getting his counseling degree.”

Fr. Flynn could not be contacted for comment.