Beloved Kildare priest laid to rest

A BELOVED Kildare priest was recently laid to rest just weeks after he celebrated the ruby anniversary of his ordination.

Fr Jim McCormack (86) was orginally from Downings, Prosperous.

Fr Jim, as he was known to his parishioners, served most of his career in Hacketstown near the Carlow/Wicklow border for many years where he was immensely popular figure.

Fr Jim worked as a mechanic before joining the priesthood in 1985 having been ordained as a missionary priest for the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

The first parish that he served in was Killinarden, Tallaght from 1987 to 1996 before he was moved to Hacketstown, where he worked until his retirement in 2020. 

He never forgot the people of Killinarden, though, and, with the help of his Hacketstown parishioners, every year he organised an Easter egg collection and a toy collection every Christmas. On his retirement five years ago, he moved to Parke House nursing home, Kilcock.

Bishop Denis Nulty gave the opening address at Fr Jim’s requiem Mass in St Brigid’s church, Hacketstown on Friday 18 July, while his lifelong friend Fr Joe McGee from the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart gave the homily. Poignantly, Fr Joe was also at his bedside when he passed peacefully away on Tuesday 15 July.

Bishop Nulty said: “He loved Hacketstown and Hacketstown loved Jim. Jim, in an illness that robbed him of his gentle voice, always kept that beautiful smile. I saw it on the last day of June as we gathered in Parke House, just over a fortnight ago, to honour his ruby ordination anniversary. He smiled broadly when he was reminded of the cars he serviced long before becoming a priest."

Fr Jim was laid to rest in Killybegs cemetery, Prosperous.