Minding the flock with rural chaplain Kenny Hanna

The first rural chaplain from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland is very open minded about his new role.

“I am here for absolutely everybody from every background. When I go into a mart, I won’t be looking round to see where the Presbyterian farmers are.

“Helping anybody from any background is exactly what I want to do,” says Reverend Kenny Hanna.

The Kilkeel man will be providing a chaplaincy service to the rural and farming community in four of the church’s 19 regional presbyteries across Ireland.

His patch covers the whole of Co Armagh and most of Co Down.

Kenny will be working with ministers from around 100 Presbyterian churches in the area and is keen to build relationships with all organisations related to farming.

But it is the day-to-day conversations with ordinary farmers that he seems to be looking forward to the most.

“I won’t be cornering people at markets to preach to them. I would be having a joke or a bit of banter with farmers, but over the course of ordinary conversation, I would talk about Jesus just as normally as I would talk about farming. I bring the Good Shepherd into the conversation, just as easily as I would bring in sheep or cattle,” Kenny says.

I assumed that a Presbyterian minister wouldn’t know too much about farming, so I test Kenny by asking him what are the key issues facing local farmers. He responds immediately with a long list, hardly taking time for a breath.

His comprehensive answer covers off all the key topics: fertiliser prices, post-Brexit trade, new farm support schemes, bovine TB, environmental regulations, veganism, rural isolation, mental health, farm succession.

“Those are definitely the issues that I am coming across or are issues that are ongoing in the background. I am not here with my head in the clouds. I understand the pressures that are facing farmers and their families. I think that helps immeasurably when I speak to farmers,” Kenny says.

He also knows that it is not all doom and gloom in farming. He points to the strong farmgate prices that have been available in most sectors over the past year. Kenny has clearly been paying close attention to the trade when he visits local marts, as he correctly points out that hoggets have slipped back slightly in recent weeks, but prices are still well above last year’s levels.

Farming blood

“Farming is in my blood. You couldn’t knock it out of me. I grew up on a mixed farm in the Mourne Mountains. It was dairy and sheep.

“We used to put our sheep onto Aughrim Hill, which is just up the road from our farm, and right up into the heart of the Mournes to a place called Slievenaglogh,” Kenny says.

“When I was growing up, I loved farming, but I hated school. All I wanted to do was milk cows, feed dropped calves and look after sheep.

“I couldn’t wait to get home to farm after school. The farm wouldn’t be big enough to support a full-time income for me, so my plan was to get another job, as a lot of farmers do, and then farm part time,” he explains.

When Kenny was 18, his life plan changed overnight when his 16-year-old cousin, who he was very close to, was tragically killed in an accident.

“It made me think a lot about life. Ian was a Christian and I knew he had gone to heaven. But if that had have been me in the accident, I didn’t have any assurance of that at all.

“A year later, there were Gospel meetings when we were encouraged to think about these things. It was really then that I gave my life over to Jesus,” Kenny says.

He spent seven years studying to become a minister and his first congregation was at Glenwherry Presbyterian Church in Co Antrim.

“I was there for almost 10 years. A lot of our families at Glenwherry were farmers. My normal practice was to keep wellingtons in the boot of my car.

“I had many pastoral conversations with farmers when I was walking through fields or standing in sheds. I just loved that,” he says.

Kenny then spent another 10 years at Second Dromara Presbyterian Church in Co Down, before taking up the full-time role as rural chaplain in November 2021.

It is part of a three-year pilot scheme, and the church will look to see if it can be replicated in more of its regional presbyteries across Ireland.

Good Shepherd

Throughout our interview, Kenny refers to Jesus as the Good Shepherd and uses several farming stories to explain his faith. I suspect it is the type of conversation that he has with ordinary farmers as part of his new role.

“When you’re moving sheep, they can go the right way or the wrong way. Sheep being sheep, they usually go the wrong way. Well, we are a bit like that too. We stray away from God.

“Jesus came to die on the cross to forgive us for straying away from God. But he didn’t stay dead, he rose on the third day. That is my hope as I trust in Jesus; for life beyond the grave that lasts forever,” he says.

Kenny seems down to earth and doesn’t come across as overbearing. Although he is a preacher, he doesn’t seem too preachy. He gets his message across in a subtle way that is not daunting or off-putting.

To take it further, I want to know what Kenny tells people to do when they take him up on his offer to follow Jesus.

“Two things,” Kenny responds. “Firstly, we have to repent. We have to turn round and say ‘Jesus, forgive me for going the wrong way’.

“The second word is ‘believe’. I have to believe that the Good Shepherd came to die for me and forgive my sins.”

As a Catholic, I find his answer interesting as it bears a striking similarity to what the priest says on Ash Wednesday when he places ashes on my forehead: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” It makes me think that Protestants and Catholics have far more in common than is often made out.

At the end of our interview, Kenny asks if we can finish with a prayer. It is a first for me in my seven years as a journalist, but I oblige.

Kenny prays aloud and asks for a blessing on all the team at the Irish Farmers Journal and Irish Country Living. He also makes sure to pray for our readers and all farming families across Ireland. Amen to that.