Fr Stephen Kealy RIP

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Fr Stephen Kealy
1924-2007

Fr Stephen Kealy was born on 8 June 1924 in Harrington Street, Dublin. He was educated at Prosperous NS, St Patrick's NS Drumcondra, O’Connell Schools CBS and St Kieran's College, Kilkenny.   He came to Dalgan in 1942 and was ordained priest on 21 December, 1948.

Appointed to the Philippines in 1949, he was one of the early chaplains
assigned to Student Catholic Action (SCA) in Manila, where he spent most of the next ten years apart from short periods in pastoral work in Binangonan, Rizal.

After his vacation in Ireland in 1960 he was appointed to Peru where he served in the parish of San Martin. There he had a youth club of some 2,000 members and learned to speak Spanish fluently. In 1967 he was asked to do parish work in the Diocese of Northhampton in Britain where he remained until 1972.

In 1973 he was appointed to the US Region and began to work in the Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona. He spent the next sixteen years in Spanish-speaking and English-speaking parishes. There he is particularly remembered for his quiet work with Spanish-speaking illegal aliens. In June 1989 he was assigned to St Columban's Parish, and to the Filipino Centre in Los Angeles where he remained until 1994. There was still time for a last stint in Arizona from then until 1998 when he retired to St Columban's, Bristol, Rhode Island. In 2002 he returned to Dalgan where he died on 31 October 2007.

In his many appointments, Stephen showed himself a zealous, adaptable missionary with a special care for the weak and needy. He never sought publicity for his work, but he is remembered with deep affection among the many enriched by his faithful service.

May he rest in peace.