Diamond jubilee celebrations for two Clare priests

CLARE priests, Fr Micheál McInerney and Fr Gerry Fitzpatrick, will celebrate a very special occasion next Friday as both celebrate the 60th anniversary of their ordination.

They are the only surviving priests from the Killaloe Diocese to be ordained on Friday, June 18 1950 out of the largest graduating classes from Maynooth since 1943.
Fr McInerney from Quin and Fr Fitzpatrick from Kilmihil remain close friends having set out into the priesthood together, taking up neighbouring parishes in England immediately after their ordination.
Now retired, Fr Fitzpatrick resides in Cahercalla Hospital, while his friend, Fr McInerney, retired to his native parish of Quin.
Calling on Fr Fitzpatrick earlier this week, Fr McInerney and his fellow clergyman recalled their ordination and first experiences as priests in a foreign land.
“We were the largest class ordained in Maynooth since 1943, which has never been beaten since. There were 67 priests ordained in the one morning on Sunday June 18, 1950,” Fr Fitzpatrick said.
He shrugged off any possibility of forgetting the day and gave a vivid account of it.
“Do I remember it? Ah sure listen, it is the same to me as if it was yesterday. We came out at 11.20am, we were gone in long before the Archbishop of Dublin arrived. There were six from the diocese and we are the only two from the diocese alive today. The others were Fr Martin Kirwin, Fr Denis Moroney, Fr Tony Murphy and Fr Eamon Gilmartin.
We had over 70 in the class but there were a couple who went out to be ordained in their home parish. After the ceremony, I invited my friend Micheál to come to my uncle’s place in Dun Laoghaire and we said mass there the next day,” Fr Fitzpatrick recalled.
The two also remember setting sail for their new parishes in Leyton in England.
“We went off to England on the boat from Holyhead and Hurricane Debbie came in. I remember the words I said that day, ‘I never knew I had a stomach until today’. We were next-door neighbours, there was one street and on one side was Fr McInerney’s and the other street was my parish. We kept in touch over the years,” Fr Fitzpatrick said.
Fr Fitzpatrick returned to Ireland after three years receiving a position in Roscrea, where he remained for two years before returning to his home county and to Kilimer. After 10 years’ service there, he went onto Knockerra, Kilkishen and finally to Sixmilebridge where he continued as parish priest until his retirement in 1998. He then took up residence in Cahercalla.
Meanwhile, Fr McInerney recalled the changing times since they started out in the priesthood.
“If you went to a house in Ireland at that time, they’d whitewash the house if they knew the priest was coming. We started out 60 years ago with masses in Latin and then the vernacular came in. So you just have to give in to all those changes. Of course, in recent years, we have been shocked through all the scandals. But I have always been happy to be a priest. We only really hear the bad things but the people on the ground are very supportive of the work we do,” Fr McInerney said.
Fr McInerney served in a number of posts over the years including, Cranny and Whitegate East, he acted as spiritual director and vocational director in St Flannan’s and chaplain in Cahercalla. He also served in Birr as a curate for four years before returning to Clarecastle as parish priest where he retired. He is now enjoying retirement in his home parish of Quin.
A special mass will be concelebrated on Sunday in Quin in recognition of Fr McInerney’s diamond celebrations and both he and Fr Fitzpatrick will attend a reunion event in Maynooth next Friday to mark the 60th anniversary of their ordination.