FrJoeset upaschool inScotland
FATHER Joseph O’Connor passed away recently in the care unit of St Patrick’s Missionary Society, Kiltegan.
Fr Joseph was formerly of Wexford, Cork, Diocese of Eldoret (Kenya), Buchlyvie (Scotland), Diocese of Mutare (Zimbabwe), Delgany and Gorey
Fr Joe was born in Wexford and when he was four years old the family moved to Cork. He came to Kiltegan in September 1952.
He was ordained with 23 classmates on May 23, 1959. He was part of the biggest class ever ordained for the Society.
After ordination, Fr Joe was appointed to Kenya where he ministered in the then Prefecture of Eldoret. After his first tour, he was asked to go to Scotland to look for a suitable property which would serve as a school for young men who wanted to become priests but who did not have the necessary academic qualifications.
The school he founded was St Patrick’s, Buchlyvie. From 1965 to 2003 it helped educate 77 men who went on to be ordained priests for the Society and for many Dioceses in Scotland and in Ireland.
Fr Joe returned to Eldoret in 1969 and continued his work there until 1989, when he was asked to lead a team of Society priests to Zimbabwe. He worked in the Diocese of Mutare until 2004. In recent years Joe came to retire in Kiltegan. He was predeceased by his sisters Monica (Mulcahy), Sr Nancy FMM, Sr Margaret MMM, Mary (Nolan), by his brothers Frank, Nick and Fr Pat SSC.
He is sadly missed by his sisters Eileen (Mulcahy, Cork) and Phil (Mulcahy, Gorey), his sister-in-law Betty O’Conor (Delgany) by his nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, his relatives and friends and by his Society family.