Tag Archives: priest

A CLARE priest will be the voice of opera singer Andrea Bocelli to millions of people around the world this Christmas. However Fr Brendan Quinlivan, the parish priest of Tulla, won’t be striking a chord with his singing. Instead, Fr Quinlivan has done the voice-over for a new radio Christmas special in which the multi-award winning Bocelli sits down with Ennis journalist and presenter Colm Flynn. The programme, ‘Andrea Bocelli, Christmas Special’ will be broadcast on the ‘Heart & Soul show on the BBC World Service on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The show goes out to around 22 million listeners on the BBC radio network around the world and Colm had exclusive access to Bocelli for the interview in Florence, Italy. Fr Quinlivan’s involvement with the programme came by chance, as he happened to be in Italy just as Colm was trying to find the ideal English speaking voice to dub over Bocelli’s Italian. “The whole thing was fortuitous …

A PARISH priest today defended staging regular Sunday morning masses during Covid-19 lockdown saying that no person has got Covid-19 from attending his masses, reports Gordon Deegan. PP of Ennistymon, Fr Willie Cummins was speaking on Sunday after 48* mass goers attended 11am mass at the local Catholic church in the north Clare town. At the end of today’s mass, Fr Cummins told mass goers from the altar, “Thank you all for coming and with the help of God, there will be even more next Sunday.” From Monday, priests can celebrate masses with 50 people – however, during the Covid-19 Level 5 lockdown, it has been a criminal offence to attend public mass, other than funerals and weddings. In an interview outside Church after mass ended on Sunday, Fr Cummins said, “There hasn’t been one person who has got Covid from being in there.” Asked how many Sundays he has celebrated mass during the current Covid-19 lockdown, Fr Cummins said, …

The death has taken place in Carrigoran Nursing Home, Newmarket on Fergus of former Clonlara parish priest, Fr Brendan Cleary. Born on October 18, 1931, Fr Brendan was a native of Milltown Malbay and was a priest of the Diocese of Killaloe for 65 years. A past pupil of St Flannan’s College, he studied for the priesthood at St Patrick’s College, Carlow where he was ordained on June 5, 1955. His first appointment was on temporary Mission to the Diocese of Brentwood, UK and on his return in 1960 he was appointed curate in Killanena. He moved to Clonlara as curate in 1963. Fr Brendan was appointed curate in Killaloe Parish in 1980, living in Bridgetown from 1982 onwards. He was appointed adminstrator of the parish of Bridgetown/O’Briensbridge in 1987 and two years later he was appointed Parish Priest of Clonlara where he served until his retirement as PP in 2007. He then served as A.P in Clonlara until 2016 …

WHILE the technology to do it fairly easily has been available for several years now, it is only since the onset of Covid-19 that broadcasting of masses online has become commonplace and the reaction from the Clare faithful has been quite positive. For many years now the numbers attending religious ceremonies has been falling, and the enthusiasm for watching them at home may give some encouragement to the Church. Shannon parish priest Father Arnold Rosney said that since the restrictions have been in place many people have viewed the masses he has put online. “We’re doing it every morning at 10am, using the facilities of the webcam, the parish radio and I put it on Facebook live as well, which is a huge attraction for a lot of people. We find that all three are getting big numbers, particularly on a Sunday morning. “To give you an example there were over 3,000 on Monday morning. The average could be 1,500 …

The death has taken place at Regina House Nursing Home in Kilrush of Doonbeg parish priest, Fr Joe Haugh. A native of Coolmeen, he was ordained to the priesthood for the Killaloe Diocese in the Church of St. Mary of the Rosary, Nenagh by Bishop Joseph Rodgers on June 16, 1957. Fr. Joe was appointed to serve on a temporary mission to the diocese of Brentwood in England after his ordination where he served for six years until he was recalled to the Killaloe diocese and appointed curate to Kilmaley parish in October 1963. In July 1978 he was appointed curate to Corofin parish and in 1989 he was appointed Parish Priest in Cross where he remained until his appointment to Doonbeg parish in July 1995. Fr. Joe served the people of Doonbeg as parish priest from 1995 to 2008 when he became Priest in Residence and Administrator. He continued to actively serve as Assistant Priest in the parish since …

News of the sudden death of Doonbeg native, Pat Cotter has caused widespread shock throughout the county. A former priest in the diocese, the 69-year-old retired from ministry a decade ago. Particularly well-known in Gaelic football circles, he won six senior championship medals with his beloved Doonbeg, being part of the three-in-a-row teams in 1967, 1968 and 1969 and again in 1972, ‘73 and ‘74. He also won six Cusack Cup medals. He played at all levels for Clare and served as a mentor with a number of Clare teams, including the senior football side. He served as a Munster Railway Cup selector. He played football with Maynooth College and he played with Wolfe Tones, when he was based in Shannon for a spell. His love of football and, particularly, Clare football was reflected in his involvement in various committees that worked to promote the game. He served on the Clare Football Support Group, which raised funds that led to …

The death has taken place in the Beacon Hospital of retired parish priest of Birr, Fr Tony Cahir. In his mid 70s, Fr Cahir was a priest of the Diocese of Killaloe for 52 years. A native of Ennis, Fr Cahir was educated at St Flannan’s College, Ennis and the Pontifical Irish College in Rome where he was ordained in March 1963. After ordination, he remained in Rome attending the Second Vatican Council until December. In January 1964 he was appointed to the Diocese of Dromore as Spiritual Director in St Colman’s College, Newry and two years later he returned to the Diocese of Killaloe and was appointed to St Flannan’s College. In 1967 he was appointed to teach in England, teaching for two years in secondary schools in London and Middlesex.  He also took a one year course in Catechetics at Corpus Christi College, London returning to the Diocese of Killaloe in June 1970 whereupon he was appointed full …

A MISSIONARY priest from Feakle died aged 85 on Tuesday, February 11 in Tallaght Hospital. Fr Cyril Sheedy CSSp was born in Feakle on April 7, 1928 to Lily (née McGrath) and Jeremiah Sheedy. After secondary-school studies in Rockwell College, he entered the Spiritan (Holy Ghost) novitiate in 1946, completed his BA in 1950 and later got his H Dip Ed. In line with the then custom for Spiritans studying for the priesthood, he spent two years in a Spiritan school as a prefect on the Caribbean island of Trinidad from 1950 to 1952. He worked as a member of school staff, teaching classes, coaching teams and helping to supervise pupils. After completing his theology studies at Kimmage Manor, Cyril was ordained to the priesthood in Clonliffe College in July 1955 by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid. Also ordained that day was his older brother, Val, who went on to minister with the Spiritans in Nigeria and subsequently in the USA, …