Twin Kildare priests celebrate their 95th birthday

TWIN brothers and priests, Fathers Joe and Matt Kelly, celebrated the remarkable occasion of their 95th birthday on Saturday.

This milestone year for the Kildare brothers also marks the Platinum Jubilee of their 1956 ordination to the diocesan priesthood, occurring in May and June respectively. Father Joe has served in the Archdiocese of Dublin throughout his long ministry, while Father Matt served in the Diocese of Kildare & Leighlin. Both brothers now reside at the Little Sisters of the Poor, Sacred Heart Residence in Sybil Hill, Raheny.

To mark this special birthday, the brothers enjoyed birthday celebration with their family over the weekend.

They were born on March 31 1931 in Coolcarrigan near Blackwood, and attended primary school in Timahoe where their mother was a teacher. Their father had a grocery shop in the area and the boys along with their two brothers and two sisters, would have spent time there growing up. For secondary school, they both attended St Mary’s, Knockbeg College in Co Carlow.

When the decision came to enter the seminary, the Bishop at that time, Bishop Thomas Keogh decided to send Joe to Dublin to Clonliffe College and Matt to Maynooth College. After three years, Joe joined Matt in Maynooth up to ordination time. Fr Joe was ordained for the Archdiocese of Dublin in May 1956 and Fr Matt was ordained for Kildare & Leighlin Diocese in June 1956.

Reflecting on his life and ministry Fr Matt said that he had varied appointments throughout his life, an early one with Tullow Parish where he was also one of the Religious Education Inspectors to Primary Schools in the Diocese. Following that he was appointed to Carlow College, St Patrick’s Seminary where he taught Philosophy for about 20 years. He had several parish appointments, notably as Parish Priest in Kildare Town and then retired as PP and became a curate in the Parish of Kill/Ardclough, Co Kildare, where he stayed for the remainder of his ministry. Throughout his life he was involved in Church music and spent many years as a choir director. When he moved to Kill he joined the local choir, the award winning Kill Singers and he also sang in the Church Choir for many years.

Fr Joe’s recollections are of parish life throughout the Archdiocese of Dublin, he spent some time early in his ministry in Kilmeague Parish which was where his grandparents were from, it was lovely to have had that connection to his roots. Other appointments were in Finglas, Larkhill-Whitehall-Santry (as Parish Priest) and finally as curate in Bayside Parish in Raheny in Dublin, where he remained serving his parishioners until recently.

Both Fr Matt & Fr Joe were keen golfers and were members in Royal Dublin Golf Club, and until last year, played a weekly game of golf with a group of priest friends.

To honour their 70 years of service, a special Mass will be concelebrated on Sunday 17 May, at the Church of the Resurrection in Bayside, Dublin. The liturgy will be led by Archbishop Dermot Farrell, Archbishop of Dublin, and Bishop Denis Nulty, Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin.