Knockbeg College past pupils celebrate 95th birthday and 70 years in the priesthood
Twin brothers Fathers Joe and Matt Kelly celebrate their 95th birthday Photos: John Mc Elroy
TWIN priests from Co Kildare, who went to secondary school at St Mary’s Knockbeg College, celebrated their 95th birthday at the weekend.
Joe and Matt Kelly, from Coolcarrigan, Kildare, who were ordained in 1956, will also celebrate their joint platinum jubilee in May.
Born in March 1931 in Coolcarrigan Co Kildare, the twin brothers went to primary school in Timahoe, where their mother Ann was a teacher and their father Peter ran a grocery shop, before attending St Mary’s Knockbeg College in Carlow.
Shortly after his ordination, Fr Matt was appointed to Tullow Parish, where he was also a religious education inspector for primary schools in the diocese.
Fr Matt was also appointed to Carlow College, St Patrick’s Seminary where he taught philosophy across two decades and also served as college president.
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.
He continued to work until about three years ago, before he entered the Little Sisters of the Poor, Sacred Heart Residence, in Sybil Hill, Raheny, where he now resides with Joe.
Fr Joe spent his parish life throughout the Archdiocese of Dublin. He finished as curate in the Bayside Parish in Raheny, Dublin, where he served his parishioners until recently.
A member of the Kildare minor football team in 1953/54, Fr Joe was also a keen golfer along with his brother, and they were members of the Royal Dublin Golf Club, playing a weekly round of golf up until last year.
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.
