Fr. Brendan O’Brien C.S.Sp. celebrates 70 years of priesthood.
This summer Fr. Brendan O’Brien C.S.Sp. is marking the 70th anniversary of his ordination.
Born in 1924 in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, the future Spiritan (Holy Ghost) missionary priest attended secondary school in Limerick’s Mount St. Alphonsus, and in Blackrock College. He entered the Spiritan Novitiate in 1942. Having worked for 2 years in Blackrock College, he later got a teaching qualification from London’s Strawberry Hill College. One of over 30 Irish Spiritans ordained in 1950, he was appointed to East Africa, and went on to serve in Kenya for over 40 years.
Initially, a staff-member of the Teacher Training College (TTC) in Kilimambogo, he then served in Riara as headmaster and in a pastoral role. He was headmaster in a school in Lioki before returning to Kilimambogo where he was Principal of the TTC for a decade. Rector of Queen of Apostles Junior Seminary in Ruaraka in the Archdiocese of Nairobi for 3 years, he was the archdiocese’s Director of Vocations from 1975 to 1980. He also served in parishes in Limuru, Lioki, Riara, Nairobi’s Spring Valley and Kalimoni. In the early 1990s he was based in Mombasa, as Guestmaster of St. Brendan’s Guest House and Chaplain to the naval base.
Returning to Ireland in 1994, after over 4 decades on overseas mission, he was a member of the community in Kimmage Manor where he had been a seminarian in the 1940s. He is now resident in Nazareth House. The second-oldest Irish Spiritan, Fr. Brendan will be 96 in August.
Fr. Kevin Corrigan C.S.Sp. celebrates the 60th anniversary of his ordination.
Fr. Kevin Corrigan, a Spiritan (Holy Ghost) priest from Ballymahon, Co. Westmeath, is one of 7 Irish Spiritans currently celebrating the 60th anniversary of their ordination to the priesthood.
Born in 1933, the future missionary studied in Blackrock College. He trained for the priesthood in his congregation’s Kimmage Manor seminary.
One of over 2 dozen Irish Spiritans ordained in 1960, Fr. Kevin was appointed to Kenya. He did pastoral work and taught in Kiambu, and, from 1964-1966, was Dean of Studies in Kabaa Secondary School (Thika). He became Headmaster and Bursar in Muhoho High School (Ruiru) and, later, in Kanunga Secondary School (Kiambu). A hospital chaplain in Limuru for 2 years, he served in a pastoral role in Queen of Apostles Seminary, Nairobi from 1976–1978.
He moved to the USA to undertake further studies, graduating from Santa Clara University in 1981 with an MA in Pastoral Counselling. He was a pastor in a number of Californian parishes including St. Athanasius (Mountain View) and St. Dunstan’s (Millbrae).
Returning to Ireland in 2005 after more than two decades in the US, Fr. Kevin was Chaplain in Marian House, his congregation’s then nursing home, for 5 years. After retirement, he remained on in Kimmage Manor until earlier this year when he transferred to Nazareth House.
Fr. Brian Cronin C.S.Sp. celebrates the Golden Jubilee of his ordination.
From Mt. Merrion in Co. Dublin and an ex-student of Blackrock College, Fr. Brian was ordained in his home city in 1970 and is one of 5 Irish Spiritans whose Golden Jubilee of ordination falls this summer.
After completing his Theology studies in Rome, Fr. Brian was appointed to Kenya where he served in a pastoral role in the Archdiocese of Nairobi from 1972 to 1980.
He then taught philosophy for 3 years at the seminary in Moshi, Tanzania, on the slopes of Kilimanjaro.
A specialist in Lonergan studies, he did his Ph D in Boston College. (Bernard Lonergan, a kind of shadow presence, is in the background of the above photo of Fr. Brian.)
Going back to Tanzania in 1986, Fr. Brian taught in the Spiritan Missionary Seminary in Arusha.
From 2011 until his return to Ireland in the summer of 2020 after just under 50 years on overseas mission, he taught Philosophy in Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, USA.
Fr. Brian’s publications include:
- Foundations of Philosophy: Lonergan’s Cognitional Theory and Epistemology;
- Phenomenology of Human Understanding;
- Value Ethics: A Lonergan Perspective.
His next book A Worldview of Everything, A Contemporary Metaphysics is due to be published in 2021.
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